Tropy's Story
by Aleyn Meagher
Summary: Dr. Nefarious Tropy. One of the most brilliant evil scientist in the world finally meets his equal. Can he take her on and reign triumphant? Or will he lose his title and his heart? And in the meantime, will he ever defeat the Bandicoots?
1. Chapter 1

Everything seemed so peaceful. Even after losing another battle. The sun was setting, giving off a radiant orange-pink glow. The waves splashed gently against the shore of one of the many beaches on this island. In the jungle behind the beach, lilies had bloomed, and butterflies played vigorously around them. In the distance, a blue jay chirped its love song.

A tall blue man stood on the shore alone, watching the sunset. His armor was ripped to shreds, his lab coat, singed. He threw off his helmet and rustled his black, laid back hair. He discarded his armor and his lab coat. On this island, the weather was warm all year round. He had no fear of catching a cold. He looked around, searching for his weapon: a very large tuning fork. He found it sticking out of a nearby sand dune. After pulling it out, he smacked it on the ground twice. Unseen waves of sound rippled through the air to a satellite. Now, he just had to wait for his friends to find him.

As he sat down in the sand and watched the sunset, he let out a sigh and said, "If only I had someone to watch this with. Here, on this spot." He lied down, closing his eyes. "As if that would happen." He added sarcastically.

He took a minute to remember his time before he joined his friends in evildoing. He wasn't much different than he was now, but he was not feared, he was picked on for his "unhealthy" love of time. For his cold, blue skin. For his Asian appearance when he was clearly British. He thought much of changing his ways, and his appearance, but his love for time made that impossible. He was convinced that nothing could change that. He was convinced that he would never love anyone or anything more than time.

Suddenly, he felt a stinging in his eyes. Drops of warm water slid down his face.

"Wow…" he was shocked at himself. "I haven't cried in… God knows how long." He wiped his face. Though he knew no one was around to see him, the thought of him crying was embarrassing. But the next tears that flowed down his face, he didn't stop. Or the next, or the next… His face kept getting hotter as the minutes went by. He thought he was going to be sick.

Something soft and damp with cold water was then placed over his face. He jolted his body up, clearly startled. He removed the towel, and looked around. Sitting next to him was a teenage girl holding a wooden bowl with water in it.

_Where did _she_ come from?_ He thought. He hadn't even noticed her coming, which was alarming, for he had the best ears among his friends.

They just looked at each other in shock for what seemed like forever. He studied her appearance. She wore a skirt made of straw, and a tank top made of leaves. Her necklace, bracers, and ankle bracelets were made out of the canine teeth of some wild animal. Her short brunette hair came down a little bit past her shoulders. And her green eyes matched his. He decided that she was a castaway, taken in by the natives of the island.

He decided to introduce himself. "A pleasure to meet you, I am Dr. Nefarious Tropy." Like a gentleman, he took her hand and kissed the back of it. She giggled, face turning a little red.

"It is _my_ pleasure to meet you, Dr. Nefarious Tropy. My name is Mariana Torachelli." She bowed her head. An Italian!

"So… what are you here for? …On this island… this… beach… with me…" Nefarious was stumbling for words.

"Well, when I was a child, I had a shipwreck, and floated here where the natives took me in."

_So, I was right…_ Nefarious thought.

"And… when I found you, I heard you ask for someone to watch the sunset with, so I came to watch it with you."

Nefarious decided to ask a dumb question. "Are you not frightened by my appearance?"

Mariana just looked at him and said, "No." Then, she added what she thought would be a dumb answer. "I think you're quite… I don't know… handsome?"

That did it. Nefarious hid his face, which had perhaps turned beet red. He had never been called anything but "tall blue freak" in all his life. This was turning out to be a good evening for him. He looked at her again. She was smiling.

Mariana pointed in the direction of the sunset. It was almost done sinking below the horizon. It cast out its last rays of light like a dying fire, and all went dark. She gasped and stood up abruptly.

"What's wrong?" Nefarious stood up, too.

"I was to be back at my village before the moon turns from red to white. I'll never make it now…" She turned to begin running, but Nefarious grabbed her hand.

"I'll take you. Just give me directions." Before she had time to accept or decline, he gently scooped her up in his arms and ran through the jungle. He jumped over rocks, between trees, over holes and small streams, and leapt from branch to branch.

"Left…right…down the hill…left again… left… here!" At Mariana's final word, Nefarious skidded to a halt. He looked at the moon. It was still red. He set her down, still inside the cover of the jungle.

"Well, we're on time, I guess." He smiled, sweating, exhausted.

"Thank you, Dr. Tropy." She smiled back, but did not leave.

"What's wrong? Shouldn't you be going in now?"

"Well…I…this may be the last time we see each other…right?" Her voice trailed off. She looked down.

Nefarious scratched his head and thought about that one. On his next mission to the island, he could always come see her, but if she knew he was evil, it wouldn't make such a good impression.

So, he decided to lie. "Yes, I'm afraid so…" He gently lifted her chin. "Or… perhaps we'll see each other again in the future." He had instantly become a bad liar. _What is wrong with me?_ He thought.

"Well… until then," she smiled at him. Then, she ever so gently pressed her lips against his cheek. "Thank you."


	2. Chapter 2

And she was gone. Nefarious just stood there with the most dumbfounded look on his face, not sure what to do. Even worse, without Mariana to guide him, he didn't know how to get back to the beach where his friends were supposed to pick him up. He broke out of his trance and looked back at the trees stretching behind him. He couldn't see much. He then heard something in the bushes. He took up a fighting stance. Out stepped a young, female bandicoot. They just stared at each other for a moment, and he dropped his arms.

"Coco, what are you doing way out here?" He said in surprise to his enemy.

"I could ask the same to you, too, N. Tropy." Coco looked a little startled. "Didn't my big-bro just beat you _again_?"

Nefarious huffed. He was too tired to deal with anyone right now. "Yeah… yeah, he did."

"And you're here, why?" Coco was not going to let up on him.

"Escorting a new friend home while waiting for Dr. Cortex to come get me… and…" he paused and scratched his head in embarrassment. "I'm kind of… lost."

Coco laughed at him. "You…_lost?_" She balanced herself on a tree. "You of all people." She turned around and began walking back through the jungle. "Good luck getting out of here, and watch out for the man-eating plants."

"What? Wait, come on! Help me out here!" Nefarious was ready to begin pleading. He hated not knowing where he was.

Coco looked over her shoulder. "I never said you weren't allowed to follow me out." And she kept on walking. Nefarious took that as a sign to get moving.

He followed her through the thick jungle, often hitting his head on a low branch, or smacking his knee against a boulder. Time traveling was not the best thing for his already bad eyesight. It was even worse at night; you could call him legally blind. He wanted to kick himself for not bringing his half-moon spectacles, or even his contacts.

"Well, we're here." Coco said when they reached the edge of the jungle that separated the undergrowth from the beach. She turned around to face him. "Um… can I have a small favor, N. Tropy?"

Nefarious was feeling generous today, since he met Mariana, and was helped out of what could have been a huge mess, not to mention by his enemy. He nodded and waited for her to ask something of him.

She took a small note out of her pocket and handed it to him. "Will you give this to N. Gin?"

He looked a little surprised at such a request. He thought for sure that she would ask him to never come into contact with her brother again, or something like that. But, he nodded once more and took the note.

Coco smiled. "Thanks."

"No, thank _you_ for helping _me_." Nefarious smiled back to her. He was going to be doing two good things in one day, which made him feel a happiness he had never felt before.

His thoughts were broken as the sound of a large airship came closer.

"You have to go, Coco." He warned her.

"Okay, thanks again!" She waved to him while running back towards her house. He waved back, then turned to face the oncoming airship. After it landed safely on the beach, two small men stepped out to greet him. One was yellow-skinned with a head _way_ too big for his body, and had crazy hair going on, while the other had a metal plate over the right side of his face and a missile coming out of his head. Dr. Cortex and N. Gin.

The yellow man, Dr. Cortex spoke first. "Rough day?" He asked more politely than usual.

"Yeah." Nefarious sighed. "Good day?"

"Actually, yes." Dr. Cortex smiled. "I got back into contact with an old friend I met here ten years ago. She's doing quite well."

"Your girlfriend?"

"Oh, no, no… just a friend and quite a powerful ally."

"Yeah," N. Gin said. "If Dr. Cortex actually had a girlfriend, Nina would have a TON of people to play with, other than Vladimi… OUCH!" Dr. Cortex punched him in the arm.

"You _know_ I don't like talking about, or hearing of Vladimir." He glared at N. Gin. "He's too old for Nina… technically speaking."

Nefarious sighed and boarded the airship. The other two followed him up. As they took off, he asked Dr. Cortex more about their 'ally'.

"So, what does she do?" He wondered because the N-Team was made up of various kinds of evil geniuses. Dr. Cortex was the machinery expert, N. Gin was the weapons expert, N. Brio was the chemical expert, and he was the master of time. He couldn't see anything else that needed to be added to their team. Nothing was missing.

"I don't know if you'll believe this, but…" Dr. Cortex looked for the words. "She's a Necromancer."

Nefarious' jaw dropped. _Oh, great…_ he thought. _More magic and dead things. Another friend perfect for Nina. _

"And _why_ do you find a Necromancer a good ally? We already have Uka Uka."

Dr. Cortex considered that one. "Well…" he began. "Uka Uka is just a hunk of bark. We need real magic to aid us. Plus… Necromancers are cute."

"…cute…" Nefarious went to find N. Gin. He was in the arsenal on the ship.

"What's up?" N. Gin asked him over some loud music. He turned it down and pulled his welding mask off.

"Here." Nefarious handed him the note from Coco.

"Who's this from?"

"Guess."

N. Gin opened the envelope and pulled out the note. He read it, looking at the style of writing very carefully. He smiled, put it back in the envelope, and stored it safely in his pocket.

"Got it?" Nefarious asked with a small smile.

N. Gin nodded, apparently too happy to speak.

"Good." Nefarious headed back to his room on the airship and laid down in bed. He quickly drifted off into a deep sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

A scream echoed through the castle the next morning. It was so loud; it reached the airship waking Nefarious.

He was so startled he fell out of bed. Not bothering to put on his lab coat, he grabbed his tuning fork and bolted through the airship to where it docked with the castle. Using his tuning fork as a bar, he slid down the long rope and landed on the cold stone surface of the docking platform.

He smirked in content. _I guess I still have it. _He then focused his thoughts on the scream he had heard. He ran inside the castle, bolting down the long winding staircase into the corridors.

_A scream like that could only have been Dr. Cortex._ He thought, and then stopped to think twice. _Then again, all three of them _do_ have girly screams. _He shrugged and continued down the long corridor. His footsteps almost did not echo, for he was running barefoot. He rounded a corner into a chamber. Standing there was Dr. Cortex… with the most unlikely person on earth. He stopped too abruptly, and tripped over his own feet. The next thing he knew, he was kissing the cold stone floor.

"Oh, good morning." Dr. Cortex greeted him casually with a smile. "Meet our Necromancer!" He gestured to the lady standing beside him. She looked at Nefarious practically mirroring his dumbfound expression. He stood up without taking his eyes off of her.

"_Mariana?_" He blurted out, almost yelling.

"Um… surprise?" Mariana was not quite sure of what to say to him. She gave him a somewhat embarrassed smile.

Dr. Cortex looked confused. "You two know each other?"

"Yes." The two said at the same time. They stared each other down.

"Good! You'll make a great team, then!" He ran over to a bookshelf and grabbed a large tan book with font unreadable to humans printed in gold across the cover. He handed it to Mariana. "Could you read that, dear?"

"Of course." She looked at the cover. "It says, 'Guide To The Undead Across Time'." She gave him a confused look. "What would this have to do with Dr. Tropy and I working well together?"

Dr. Cortex smiled again. "He," he gestured to Nefarious. "Is a master of time. You," he gestured to her. "Are a Necromancer."

Nefarious and Mariana locked eyes again. Then, the light bulb appeared over their heads, so to speak.

"Now," Dr. Cortex clapped his hands together. "I'll give you two some time to learn about each other's abilities. If you need anything, just call me!"

He was about to leave when Nefarious stopped him. "Just one thing," he held up his index finger. "What was that scream?"

Dr. Cortex laughed, a little embarrassed. "That…was I."

"Why?"

"Mariana decided to spook me." He looked over his shoulder. Mariana flashed him a broad grin. She had _fangs_. "Now, I must be going. You two have a nice chat." With that, he left them, shutting the door behind him.

Nefarious looked back to Mariana. She wasn't there. He then jumped as something tapped his shoulder from behind him. He turned around and found himself staring into her face. Her eyes had turned a deep crimson. Their ruby-like features mesmerized him.

"Don't look too long." She warned him and averted her gaze. "You would find the aftershock most unpleasant." She looked a little unsure about being alone with him now that he knew her secret. But what she did not know was, he would never judge her for being what she is.

"Were you alright last night?" Nefarious decided to change the subject.

Mariana nodded. "I was right on time. Thank you again." She looked back up to him and smiled.

"Don't mention it." Nefarious smiled back. He motioned over to a sofa. "Why not take a seat?"

"Okay…" Mariana paused and studied his appearance a little more. "Where's your shirt and shoes?"

"Oh!" Nefarious' face turned red again.

"Don't get me wrong, I was always with people who didn't wear… much." She said quickly. "Let's just sit down."

They walked over to the sofa and sat down. It was much more comfortable than any other sofa in the castle.

The two did not have much to say, yet, they probably just couldn't say what they wanted to.

Mariana looked again at the book that Dr. Cortex handed to her. She opened it to the first chapter and began reading aloud in the language it was written in. Nefarious had no idea what it was supposed to mean. It sounded like a mix of Latin, Mesopotamian and Arabian all at the same time, but it was nothing that anyone could ever make sense out of.

"What does it mean?" Nefarious asked out of curiosity.

"You don't want to know." Mariana replied. "It could make you sick."

"Oh." He heeded the warning and did not ask again. He sat there and allowed her voice to fill his head. What he once thought was not a language, but gibberish, now sounded rhythmical, like music. It had its own beat with a melody and a harmony. He realized that the harmony was coming from her.

"How do you do that?" He wondered. "No human can make more than one sound with their voice at once."

Mariana giggled. "I am no human, Dr. Tropy. And, what you are hearing is not only me, but all of the spirits of the Necromancers before me."

"Wow…" Nefarious was truly amazed. He had never even dreamed that Necromancers existed. And now, here is a real Necromancer sitting next to him, sharing her knowledge of magic and the supernatural world. He wanted to know more about her as a Necromancer… and as a woman.

"So… if you wouldn't mind," he began. "Would you tell me your age?"

"I don't mind, but don't fall out of your seat." She looked at him. "I will be six hundred and eight years old next month."

Nefarious was speechless. He never would have imagined someone so beautiful being over six hundred years old.

"Right?" Mariana said to practically nobody. "And you?"

"Twenty six…" He was a child compared to her. All of his knowledge, all of his life experience was probably only worth an ounce to someone like her.

"Not a bad age, mortal." She smiled at him playfully. "Young and handsome."

Nefarious blushed again. It was his turn, now. "For someone with so many years, you have not lost your beauty one bit."

She giggled again and sighed. "I died when I was twenty and entered my immortal life. That's how it goes with Necromancers."


	4. Chapter 4

"Hmm…" Nefarious went deep into thought. He tried to remember all the things he had learned about Necromancers in his time at the Academy of Evil when he was a kid. He already knew that they were evil. That was a fact that could not be denied. He knew that they were 'masters' of the undead. Also true. He then remembered something Madame Amberly said once in class.

"_Never underestimate a Necromancer. It will be the last thing you ever do. You must…"_ His thoughts were cut off as something licked the side of his face. It smelled as if something had died, and it felt too sticky to be average dog drool. That… and Dr. Cortex does not own a dog. He forced himself to look at what had snuck up on him.

It was either an undead animal, or just the most gruesome thing he had seen yet. Half of the skin –or fur—on its face was gone, allowing you to see the skull underneath. The skull itself was marked with what he recognized as the Circle of Solomon. It had no eyes in either socket, making you wonder exactly what it was looking at. All of its teeth were sharp and bloodstained. Its face resembled that of a dog, only hideously deformed. Most of its body had no fur on it. The skeleton just hung out, dripping blood and gore from its open places.

Nefarious let out a scream and jumped away from the horrid creature. It looked at him playfully, as if he were playing a game, and decided to chase him around the room. Mariana watched this in amusement for a minute, and then got a closer look at Nefarious' horror-ridden expression.

She commanded the beast to halt in the same language as the book that Dr. Cortex gave to her was written in, but it did not stop. She then waved her arm in front of her, facing the beast. It froze.

"What in the bloody hell…" Nefarious was dumbfounded once again. He knew what she had just done… she froze not the beast, but time around it.

She drew her outstretched arm back towards herself slowly, and the beast began moving in reverse. She was rewinding time, as well! When the beast was at her feet, she dropped her arms, and it could move freely again. But instead of letting it run on its own again, she chanted in the book's language, and it disappeared.

"Mariana, that was… uh-oh!" Nefarious ran forward and caught her as she fell over from exhaustion. "What's wrong?" You could tell that he was worried, and amazed at the same time. He brushed away the bangs from her face. She looked back up to him.

"Don't worry about it." She gave him a faint smile. "I haven't twisted time in too long, that's all."

Nefarious could not believe what he was hearing. Or what he had just seen. He never thought it possible for there to be more than one Master of Time. Especially not one who does not have any of the technology he does. He instantly realized that she was better than him at twisting time. And this made him jealous.

All he has ever had for all of his life. He thought that _he_ was the one and only Master of Time. He thought only _he_ had the right tools and technology. It made him feel special… even if it _did_ make him the 'tall blue freak'. He cared no longer. He found a new goal for himself in that split second of looking into the tired, ruby-like eyes of the beautiful, deathly, and immortal Necromancer before him.

He was going to best her at time twisting. He was determined to do so… even if it killed him. And hanging around with a Necromancer probably would do just that. But, it did not matter. Then, a memory struck him.

It was of just last night when he had first met Mariana. Before she came to sit with him, he had cried because of how things had turned out for him. And now… now that he knew her secrets, it made that moment of emotional breakdown nothing more than a memory. It is there… but it will eventually be forgotten.

Without another word, he laid her down gently on the sofa, stood up, and began to walk away.

"Where are you headed to?" She asked him in a tired voice.

He paused for a moment to think. _Where _am_ I going?_ He wiped his face, realizing that the dog… or something's slobber was still there. "Shower." He said shortly, and shut the door behind him.

As he walked down the corridors of the castle, he felt an anger and hatred he knew well burning inside of him. He personally did not like that feeling, but it was always there; locked away in the back of his mind. The only problem was, he did not mind hating Crash Bandicoot, for he was his enemy, but he did not want to feel that way about Mariana, not one bit.

_I have to do this quickly._ He thought. _I have to best her before this feeling sinks in too far, but how? She needs no technology. I don't do magic. …I could always learn… But who would teach me?_

After completely undressing, he started the shower and let the warm water soothe his burns, bruises and cuts from his fight yesterday. Soap and shampoo seeped into his cuts, burning him a little, but he was used to the pain. He wondered how many times he had felt the same pain. Once for every time he fought Crash… needless to say, that is a countless number.

When he turned off the shower, he realized that he had forgotten his towel. It was still six in the morning; he was sure that Dr. Cortex had gone back to bed and that no one else was awake… no one but Mariana. Maybe, if she has not already passed out from the overuse of her time twisting abilities. He felt like annoying her for no reason in particular. He also knew how Necromancers can sense a calling from the other side. He wondered if it worked on mortals, too.

He focused his thoughts on her, and in his mind said, "Mariana, I need a towel!" He knew she would hear him if it worked on mortals, but he would not be able to hear her answer. For that, he would have to practice Necromancy himself.

After a few seconds, he heard a knock on the door.

"Dr. Tropy?" It was she. "I brought your towel." She slowly opened the door. Luckily, Nefarious was still in the shower stall. "Where should I set it?"

"Um… on the counter. Thanks." Nefarious was lost searching for words again. There was silence between them. He got an idea. "Um… Mariana?"

"Yes?" It sounded as if she knew what he wanted to ask her.

He gathered his courage and asked her the one thing that would kill his pride. "Will you… teach me Necromancy?" That hurt.

There was a pause as she considered his request. Then she said, "You can start by reading the Necronomicon… wait, no. No, no, no… don't do that…" She scratched her head, messing up her hair a little. "Why?"

Nefarious was hoping that she wouldn't ask him that. But, hey, he _was_ asking her to teach him something that could kill him on his first attempt. From what he had studied at the Academy of Evil, he learned much of how dangerous Necromancy was. By saying one wrong thing, just one, you could accidentally summon something gruesome… the Cthulhu, for example.

"Well…" he had no clue why he was being so honest with a girl he just met yesterday. "I like the way you can twist time without machinery, and using your powers. I wanted to learn that from you, but considering the fact that you're a Necromancer… why not learn Necromancy as well?" Nope. No clue why he was speaking honestly. He felt like a fool. No one has ever made him feel that way before. It was somewhat painful inside.

Everything he had ever said and done to everyone he had met in his life… it was all a lie. He was lying to _himself_ the whole time, as well. Why does he realize this only now? Nothing made sense at this point. He wanted to break down and cry, but he could not… not with Mariana there.

Suddenly, he felt all his pain lifted from him as a cold hand was laid on his shoulder blade. He looked behind him… without opening the curtain; Mariana had put her hand on his shoulder blade. She was trying to comfort him. He did not know how, but she knew what he was thinking and feeling. He reached over and grabbed her hand gently.

"Thank you." He muttered.

"Of course… now," she paused again to consider things. She sighed. "Alright. I'll teach you. Just DON'T do anything that I don't tell you to do, okay? I would hate to see you die so young."

Nefarious smiled. "Thank you again."

She sighed again. "You have no idea what you're in for, but… it'll be fine. Yes, you'll be alright." It was as if she was talking to herself now.

Author's Note…

Hope you all are enjoying this so far! Now, the part from:

"Well…" he had no clue why he was being so honest with a girl he just met yesterday.

To the end was inspired by "Blurry" by Puddle of Mud. Try reading it while listening to the song. It made me cry!

Anyway, I will try to update sooner.


	5. Chapter 5

"Now… I'll leave. Get some clothes on and meet me in the chamber we were in." She shut the door behind her.

For some reason Nefarious knew that she was a little upset, and or worried. He guessed that she probably never taught someone her skills before. She sounded a little mortified. He decided not to ask her about that discomfort. It would probably upset her to the point of rethinking teaching him. He did not want that to happen, because he knew that he would end up hating her for not being able to best her.

He then thought, _I wasn't born a Necromancer like she was. What if I can't do it?_ He often heard Madame Amberly saying how only true Necromancers can do certain things. He only wished that he had believed her and studied them harder. He practically failed every class of Mythical Beings. The only time he passed with flying colors was the unit on mutants. How ironic.

He quickly pulled his clothes on and headed back to the chamber. Sure enough, Mariana was there. She was alone, to his surprise. He thought she would have summoned something like the creature that licked him earlier. She turned to face him. Her eyes frightened him now. They went from red to black.

"Uh… Mariana?" He was a little too afraid to ask.

She then cracked a small smile. "Don't worry, mortal." Her voice was just as mesmerizing as her eyes were when they were their ruby-like color. "I shall not hurt _you_. Now…" she motioned to herself. "Come…"

Still a little afraid, Nefarious did as he was told. He stood next to her and looked down into her pitch black eyes. He saw death in them and looked away, trying to clear his thoughts, but he did not run away like he felt like doing.

Mariana chuckled. "You passed the first test of learning Necromancy."

"What?"

"I am in the state of the Necromancer. Perhaps one of the most mortifying things to ever come in contact with a mortal. You sense my Death-Aura, and do not flee. If you can stand that, you are ready for the next test. Very good."

Nefarious suddenly felt the feeling of death leave. He looked back at her eyes and saw that she had changed them back to their ruby-like state. Meaning, she pulled herself back from the state of the Necromancer. He felt relieved. But more than that, he felt drained.

"Sorry." Mariana quickly apologized. "We have a habit of sucking the life force out of anyone near us when in that state."

Nefarious rubbed the back of his head. He felt as if he were going to collapse from exhaustion. He never felt anything like it. He felt as if he could sleep, but at the same time he was afraid he would die from it.

"I am very sorry." Mariana smacked her forehead. "Do you wish to rest?"

"No! Let's continue!" Nefarious was too eager, and he knew it. He wanted to do this as quickly as possible and get it right.

Mariana just shrugged. She walked over to the table where she had laid the book that Dr. Cortex had handed to her earlier. She opened it to a random page and read aloud, her eyes turning black again. Next to her appeared a skeleton. It was on the floor. Not moving. Dead, like it should be. She repeated the chant, and one more appeared on her other side. She motioned for Nefarious to come over. She quickly exited the state of the Necromancer before he did.

"Umm… I thought Necromancers made things come back to life." He was confused now.

"We do. And, that's what we're going to do. But," she held up one finger. "These two are for later. First, we meditate. Then," she held up another finger. "We contact their souls. When you can do that, we'll work on summoning and reanimation."

She walked over to a wall and pulled down two candles. She then placed them in candleholders and put them on the floor. She motioned for Nefarious to sit down as she did. He did not hesitate. She lit the candles and stared at the one in front of her.

"What are you doing?" Nefarious wondered.

She broke her concentration and looked at him. "Meditating…" she paused. "Oh, wait… you don't know how to meditate like a Necromancer, do you?"

"No." Quite an obvious answer.

"Well… it's not 'calming' like normal meditation. You focus on the candle. Focus all your emotions on it. They must be at their peaks, but at the same time, you bust be totally empty inside."

"…Sounds difficult…" Nefarious never heard of such a method of meditation.

"It is." Mariana replied shortly. "And when you want to exit your trance, you have to fight. Sometimes, it's painful."

"Great… well," he turned to face his candle. "Let's try it."

He stared at the candle, his expression turning into a scowl. Suddenly he felt angry, sad, upset, miserable, happy… all of his emotions flaring. It was like they were feeding the little flame of the candle. He let it all out… then he felt it, the emptiness. It was strange. He had no control over his emotions. He thought things… things that would usually make him feel strongly, but now, they had no effect on him whatsoever. He felt… without a soul. As if his soul was just wandering in space, and he could not get a hold of it, no matter how hard he tried.

He figured that since he had no emotion now, and he was alone with only his thoughts, he could seriously think about things without getting upset or angry. He thought of his time in the Academy of Evil, when he had first became a student. He was picked on quite a bit in the beginning. He did some horrible things to the other kids just to get his revenge. Then, he met his best friend, Jeffery. Jeffery had died in a faulty weapon's test.

He thought, _If I can ever raise the dead like Mariana, I would bring back Jeff first._ He was surprised at how well this meditation was working. Usually when he thought about Jeffery, he got sad. Now, he did not feel a thing. It was nice to be able to think like this. Suddenly, he felt someone slap him upside the back of his head. His meditation trance was broken in that instant.

"What?" He was a little shocked.

"You were in a trance for three hours now!" Mariana exclaimed. "Didn't you hear me?"

"What did you say to me?" He felt drained again, and was in great pain. He did not feel as if he would be able to stand up.

Mariana sighed. "That's enough for now. You need rest."

"We just started!"

"…_Three_ hours ago!"

He could tell that she was upset, and that she was blaming herself for the physical pain he was feeling. He decided to give in.

"Okay."

"Thank you." She held her hand out and helped him up. "Now, go to sleep. You need your rest. I need to go to N. Sanity Island for the rest of the day. Don't do _anything_ stupid without me here!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Nefarious saluted her.


	6. Chapter 6

Nefarious watched as Mariana left the room and walked down the corridor to the stairs where she disappeared. He wondered why she was blaming herself. It did not make the least bit of sense to him. After all, it _was_ his decision to begin taking up Necromancy. He crossed his arms and cocked his head over to one side. He told her that he was interested in controlling time like she could. That was one thing. But he was trying to take up Necromancy. That was a totally different thing. Or... maybe it was two in one. Perhaps controlling time like a Necromancer could, meant that you had to have the ability to perform Necromancy. And if that was the case, it was the only reason she was teaching him.

But now that he had began Necromancy, and was sure he had a shot against her when the time came, the feeling of hatred he knew all too well had faded. It was still there, somewhere inside him, but he no longer felt it. It felt good, but he wondered why it was happening to him. He wondered if anyone else was the same way.

"I have no clue..." he said to himself. "But... that makes sense." Though he was tired, he was in no mood to go to sleep. Especially now that the sun was up. He walked down the corridor opposite that of which Mariana had taken, and found the living room. He laid down on the couch, pulling a pillow over his face.

It would be in his best interest to sleep, and he knew it, but he thought back to something that Mariana had said earlier. Right when he had asked her to teach him Necromancy. She said something about the "Necronomicon". He had only heard of such a book. It was also called the Book of Dead Names. Or in some cases, the Book of the Dead, or even the Book of Evil. It is said to have been written in the blood of the victims of the Necromancer, and bound in the flesh of the same victims. That book had a seriously BAD reputation.

It was originally written in Arabic by Abdul Azhared, and the first English copy was made in 1586, translated by Dr. John Dee. Every copy in every language was said to have been destroyed or hidden by the Church. But, from the sound of Mariana's voice, that was only a rumor.

_She must have a copy! _Nefarious got excited thinking about it. He stood up abruptly, smacking his shin against the coffee table. _I'm going to find it! _Just like an eight year old on a treasure hunt, he ran to go find her room with high hopes in finding the cursed book. He stopped in mid-run when he realized he had no clue where her room was. He went to the kitchen in search of Dr. Cortex. He was a little disappointed when he only found N. Gin sitting at the kitchen table.

_Oh well, here goes nothing._

"N. Gin!" Nefarious greeted him. He turned around and smiled.

"What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much. Hey, would you have any idea where Mariana's room is?" He tried not to sound 'strange' when he said it.

"Yeah, it's on the top floor. It used to be the attic. Why?"

"Umm..." _Crap! Hurry up and think of a non-perverted reason! _"She, um... wanted me to put out all her candles. She said she doesn't want to start a fire."

"Oh. Okay." That seemed to satisfy N. Gin.

"Thanks!" With that, Nefarious ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs until he reached Mariana's room. He began to feel a slight bit afraid. He was going to be walking right into the domain of a Necromancer. What if there were traps for mortals? No, there was no need to worry, he was sure of it. He slowly reached for the door handle, turned the knob a little to the right, and he heard a soft click. Pulling open the door, he looked inside.. He took a couple deep breaths and stepped inside, flipping the overhead light on. He wanted to run in fear for his life

Mariana's room looked like a crypt, a torture chamber, and a sacrificial chamber all in one. There was an altar, a guillotine, several bloody swords, maces, battle axes, knives and cleavers. Blood covered the floor, appearing to be quite fresh. In the center of the floor, also covered in gore, was a large, black pentacle. On each of the five points of the star was a lit candle. The bookshelves had old books and jars of things where you could not see the insides, and Nefarious was very grateful for that. The only thing that was nice about the room besides the antique dresser with a mirror on it, was the bed. It had sheets, pillows and blankets made from the finest black silk. The mattress was extremely soft. He began to get strange thoughts, but immediately blocked them out of his mind.

Next to the bed, he noticed a suit of knight's armor from the Italian Renaissance. It was in almost perfect condition.

"So... you were a knight, too, huh? Not just a Necromancer..." He was impressed.

He then turned away from the armor, only to come face-to-face with a skeleton. He jumped back as it looked at him with an evil grin on its face.

"Where... is... my Master...?" It questioned him in a hissing voice.

"Mariana?" Nefarious was almost too afraid to speak. The skeleton, which he now recognized as a Banshee, had no legs. She was floating in mid-air. She nodded at his question. "N... N. Sanity I-Island..."

The Banshee smiled wider. "Thanksssss..." She hissed and disappeared.

Nefarious was clutching at his heart, trying to slow it down. "Don't... mention it?"

_Damn it, Mariana! _He thought. _Of all the things you could have been, you just _had_ to choose Necromancer, didn't you? _

He looked at the bookshelf until he found a book that was written in blood, and seemed to be bound by flesh. He sat on the floor in the middle of the pentacle and began reading it.

Ten hours later, he had nearly finished the book when someone hit him hard in the back of the head with another book. He turned around to take a look at who it was. To his surprise, Mariana was standing there. She wore black robes. Her eyes were black as pitch as she bared her fangs.

" Che diavolo stai facendo?" She yelled at him in Italian, meaning, "What the hell are you doing?" Before he had time to answer, she took the Necronomicon from him, shoved it back in the bookshelf, grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of her room.

" Cosa c'è di sbagliato?" He asked her, a little concerned, meaning, "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" She quoted him, yelling again. "You, Dr. Tropy! I specifically told you not to do anything stupid! And what do you do? You read the most evil book on Earth and in Hell!"

"How is that stupid?" Nefarious questioned her.

"How is it _not?_"

He grabbed her shoulders. "Calmati." Meaning, "Calm down."

" Zitto!" She yelled again, meaning, "Shut up!" "Oh, and don't you even think about sweet-talking me in my own language! Even though... you _are_ good at it..." Her tone softened and her volume reduced to a whisper. "Why did you read it, Dr. Tropy? Do you have any idea of what it will do to you if you were not meant to be a Necromancer?"

"I read it out of curiosity and a hope to get Necromancy sooner. And... no. I have no idea. Please, forgive me, Mariana." He really meant it as he apologized to her. That was another unusual thing for him.

She nodded and pulled him into a hug. "I really hope you were meant to do this." She said.


	7. Chapter 7

Nefarious froze. He had never expected being... hugged. No one has ever done such a thing in all his life. He has taken punches, kicks, rocks, even a chemistry experiment to the head, but nothing quite like this. The strangest part was, it did not make him feel uncomfortable one bit. He did, although, feel a little strange when she rested her head against his chest. But, it was not a disturbing strangeness, it felt nice. Though Mariana was cold to the touch, her embrace made him feel warm, like the sun on an autumn day.

He decided to live in the moment for once. He cautiously wrapped his arms around her shoulders, slowly sliding them down her back to the center. They stood there like that for a moment until he moved one arm and ran his long fingers through her thick, smooth, soft, brunette hair. Pausing on the tips, letting go, then reaching his hand back up to the top of her head to do it again. She must have just washed it, for it was still a little damp and it smelled like roses. He felt strangely intoxicated by the scent, and bent over a little until his nose rested on the top of her head.

Deeply inhaling once, he pictured a rose garden in his mind. A vast, never ending rose garden, illuminated by the gentle light of the full moon. The roses were of many colors; some red, some white, some pink, some yellow, and even some black roses.

His hold on Mariana tightened without him even noticing it. But she did. She held tighter to his waist and he straightened out his posture.

_How far do I want to go with this? _He thought. _Maybe it would be a better idea to let go. _He decided to ask her.

"Are you disturbed at all by this?" He questioned.

"If you mean our embrace, no." She said, setting her head against his chest again. "Are you?"

"No." And he was being honest. "It's just new to me."

"What else would be new to you? Just out of curiosity."

"Anything affectionate like this."

She looked up at him, smiling. He smiled back at her. Suddenly, they were interrupted by someone shouting.

"Wow!" It was N. Gin. He had walked upstairs and no one even noticed. Mariana and Nefarious quickly stepped away from each other.

"N. Gin, what are _you_ doing here?" Nefarious asked, not so sure of what to say if N. Gin wanted an explanation.

"I haven't seen you for ten hours, man! I was wondering what you were doing. I always thought you would be a ladies man." He winked and stuck a thumb up.

Mariana was blushing now. She turned away, pulling up the hood of her robes, setting her forehead against the wall. ...No, more like _slamming_ her forehead against the wall. Not repetitively, only once. And it looked like it hurt.

"Ow..." she moaned quietly.

"I know how you feel, girl!" N. Gin tried hard not to laugh. "It takes a pretty thick skull to be able to smack your head up against a stone wall and _not_ feel something!"

Mariana was getting angry now. "Banshee..." she raised her voice a little, as if she were calling someone.

Suddenly, the Banshee that had scared Nefarious half to death appeared next to her.

"Oh no... not again!" Nefarious was ready to run.

Mariana pointed to N. Gin, and said something in the language Dr. Cortex's book was written in. The Banshee gave her a wide evil grin, saluted her, then turned towards N. Gin. She wailed, making the two men cover their ears in pain, then floated at running speed over to N. Gin's position. He screamed in terror, then ran away down the stairs, Banshee following him.

Nefarious gave Mariana a dumbfounded look. "What did you just say to it?"

She shrugged, laughing a little. "Just to chase him without harming him until he got worn out."

_Wow... even Necromancers are humorous. _He thought, laughing. "Poor N. Gin. Wait, no, I take that back. By the way... why did that... um, thing, the Banshee... call you 'master'?"

"She's loyal to Necromancers." Simple as that. "Unless she has a job, she comes right when you call her."

A Banshees job is -according to Celtic legend and folklore- to visit a family when there will be a death in that family, and wail. They are, not completely, harmless. They could hurt you, or even kill you if they wanted to, or if commanded to, but they are very peaceful spirits. But though they are peaceful, they are an omen of death. Their wailing, tells when someone in the family will die, and warns them. But, if several Banshees were to appear, it would mean someone great or holy has died. Their wails can be so piercing, they have been known to shatter glass.

"I need to get her a cloak..." Mariana said to herself. She suddenly jumped and looked down. Nefarious had her pendant laying on his palm. She was still wearing it, too.

"You really like pentacles, don't you?" He asked curiously.

She smiled. "That's a pentagram." She traced the outline with her index finger. "See? The star's inside the circle. No circle is a pentacle, with circle is a pentagram."

He brushed her hair behind her ears. She had dangling pentagram ear rings, too. "What are pentagrams and pentacles for?"

"Mostly ritual purposes, but I put these on just because I like the design. I mean, come on. Something as simple as a star inside a circle? You have to admit, it's cool."

Nefarious nodded, smiling. He agreed. But, he preferred the pentacle, if he was going to wear one. "Now..." he said. He got an idea. "Back to the subject before we were so rudely interrupted..." He paused, unsure of what to say. He felt a bead of sweat run down his face, and he was probably blushing like crazy. His heart was thumping hard.

"Yes, Dr. Tropy?" Mariana looked up at him curiously. She put a hand over his heart. "Slow down..."

"You can feel it?" He was impressed yet again. She nodded. "Umm..." He was going to regret this, and he knew it. But it did not matter to him. He leaned over a little until they were eye to eye. He then gently pressed his lips to hers. It was not really a kiss, it was more like just a light touch, until he moved his bottom lip just slightly, pressing a little bit and turning his head just a little.

It was not a passionate kiss, either. Simple, light, and very, very sweet. When he let up, he noticed the shocked expression on her face.

"I'm sorry..." he apologized. "I... don't know what got into me..." He was already beginning to regret it.

Mariana lightly put her fingers to her mouth. She was blushing, almost turning beet red. "Thank you..." she said quietly.

Nefarious was not sure _why_ she was thanking him, but it made him happy to know that she was not upset with him


	8. Chapter 8

Mariana said something in the language used among Necromancers, looking away from him.

"Translation please?" Nefarious was only joking this time, but she looked straight into his eyes, ready to translate. There was no hint of humor in her eyes, either.

"Are you sure?" She asked cautiously.

Nefarious thought about this. _What if it's something that'll make something come and kill me? Nah, I'm fine. _"Go ahead." He said as casually as possible. ... Not very casually at all.

"I... I think I..." Before she could continue, the Banshee had come back and laid her skeletal hand on her cloaked shoulder, making her jump. She took one look at the Banshee and quickly changed her mind about translating. "I think I need to go." She said, taking quick, long strides down the corridor to the stairway. Just to not make a total bitch of herself she swiftly added, "I really don't feel good." hoping it would be a good enough excuse.

Nefarious stood there for a moment wondering what was wrong. He then noticed that the Banshee was still next to him. A little frightened, he said to her, "Is there something I can help you with?" A little sarcastic, but at least he was making conversation. She gave him a blank look, then shook her head. "Right."

He was then startled by the sound of many loud thumps coming from the direction of the staircase. "Oh no..." He ran over to see what had happened. Sure enough, Mariana had slipped on the stairs and had smacked another wall. Only this time... blood poured out of her head. "Shit!" He slid on the railing of the staircase until he reached her. Landing on the floor like a cat next to her, he laid her on her back. She was out cold, and the blood was coming out fast. He took off his shirt, quickly ripped it into thin banners, and wrapped it around her head.

He then scooped her up in his arms like he did on the night they met at N. Sanity Island, and jumped on the railing of the staircase again. With the extra weight, he slid faster. When reaching the bottom, he jumped off at the last moment, just sticking the landing like a competitor at the Olympic Games. He then took off running down the corridors until he reached the infirmary. He never thought that an infirmary in the castle would be useful until his first fight with Crash Bandicoot. And the doctor they had was not really much of a doctor. Just a hunk of floating bark, as Dr. Cortex had put it. Yes... Uka Uka was their doctor.

"Uka Uka!" He shouted when he entered the room. But no one was there, to his utmost shock. _Damn it, that's right! _He thought. _He's gone until the next full moon! Great... _He looked down at Mariana's unconscious face. _Perhaps I could... no, I never got my degree in paramedics. Although, it doesn't seem so difficult, now that I've cut off the flow of blood. _

He carefully laid her on one of the five hospital beds and removed the makeshift wraps that were already soaked in blood. He grabbed proper wraps from the drawer next to the bed, and rewrapped her head. Suddenly, she grabbed his wrist.

"Is she gone?" She asked him opening her eyes just slightly.

"The wailing freak?" He was stunned, yet overjoyed to see her all right. She nodded. "Yes, she didn't follow me."

"Good." She sat up in bed, letting go of his wrist.

"I can't believe it! That blow should have at least given you a concussion!"

"No, that was hard enough to kill an average person. Be careful on those stairs."

"Then why are you...?" Nefarious was a little bit confused now. If she says it was enough to kill, she should have been dead by now. She giggled, stumping him further.

"I never said _I_ was an average person."

He chuckled. "I know _that_."

"And... like I said, I have already died. You cannot die twice." She motioned for him to sit next to her. He did without hesitation.

"Now, what was it that you wanted to tell me before we were interrupted... again?" He looked into her eyes, once again mesmerized by them.

"Um... well..." She was blushing again. "I... um..." There was no way she could continue.

Nefarious decided to make another dumb move. He stretched his left arm behind her, straightening it and putting his palm down on the bed. He then stretched his right arm over her, wrapping it around her waist. Bending his left elbow, he slowly put her back against the bed, and he was leaning over her. This time without hesitation, he kissed her. Just like the first time, he was very gentle with her.

Mariana put one hand on his back, and one on his head, holding him securely to her. She traced his battle scars on his back with her cold index finger, and locked her fingers in his hair with her other hand. She noticed his breathing began to get heavy, as hers did. She moaned as he slipped his tongue into her mouth. She held tighter to him.

_What the hell is wrong with me? _Nefarious thought. _I know her for a day, and I'm already French kissing her! I have to stop..._ He lifted his lips from hers, and they were both breathing heavily. Unable to control himself, he began kissing her neck. _Damn it... I hope no one sees this. _He was regretting it, just as he knew that he would, but he could not stop.

Ever since he had met her a day ago, he has experienced so many things that were new to him, and he loved it. Sure, some of them were a bit frightening, but that was okay. He was touched by all of the affection and emotion she was showing him, and he wanted to show the same. He wanted to stop hating everyone and everything that came into contact with him. It was new, he was not so sure exactly how to do it, and it would take some time to get used to, but he looked forward to every day with her that was ahead of him.

He traced her jaw with his lips, and then put them to hers again. Before they knew it, they were both too out of breath.

_We would never last in a making out contest... _Nefarious thought sarcastically as he laid down beside her. _Not long, anyway. _

She looked over at him smiling. "Tired?" She asked casually, still breathing heavily.

"Yeah... and you're _not?_" He teased.

"...Yeah, I am. You caught me." She rested her head against his chest, closing her eyes.

Nefarious had an idea of what she wanted to tell him, but still was not so sure. "So... what are we doing tomorrow with Necromancy?" He wondered.

"I was thinking more meditation." Mariana said shortly. "You need to be able to pull yourself out of the trance whenever you want to. ...Or at least be able to hear other people when you're still _in_ the trance."

"Got it." He wrapped an arm around her. "So, what did you say while I was meditating?"

"I was mostly teasing you because you couldn't hear me."

"Oh, gee, thanks."

She chuckled. "No, Dr. Tropy. I first asked you if you could hear me. Then I asked you a few more times, got frustrated, and began yelling at you like an idiot to break the trance."

Nefarious laughed. "Oops, sorry!" He held her closer. "Oh, and, Mariana?"

"Yes, Dr. Tropy?"

"Call me Nefarious."


	9. Chapter 9

Okay, the last chapter was poop. Let me redeem myself.

"Ne...farious..." Mariana said a little hesitantly. "...Nefarious..."

Nefarious' heart gave a not so gentle squeeze when she said his name. In fact, it was a little painful. He had always wanted to be called by his name, especially by a 'significant' other. But, it never happened. Like explained before, he was always called by hurtful names, or just Dr. Tropy. He was even called 'entropy' as a joke to his name. The sad part is, even his parents had never called him by his own name. And they _gave it_ to him.

He was convinced that his parents hated him, and looked at his birth as a mistake. As soon as he was old enough, they had taken him to the Academy of Evil and left him there. They did not even bother to say goodbye. He has not seen or heard of them ever since. He had never been read a bedtime story as a child, never been shown any affection, was always alone in the world.

Due to that, he had become unsocial, and unwilling to really bond with anyone. He considered himself lucky to have found the N-Team. And although they often annoyed the crap out of him, he felt as if he had some sort of family. But, the only problem was, they were a bunch of evil freaks... just like him.

All he ever really wanted in life was to have a normal family with normal friends, and live life to the fullest. But, he was just not able to accomplish it. He was convinced that his life would be hell until he died. A living hell without gates. No chance to escape. But now, he felt differently. He felt lifted from all his pain and suffering... because of Mariana.

She had accepted him, relieved him from his scars of his past and his personal demons. And, although he did not think that she had feelings of love and affection for him, she showed him the things that he should have already known at his age. Twenty-six, and only now he knows. He felt as if he was taking advantage of that, and it felt wrong, but at the same time, it felt right. She was like a hero to him. Yet, the feeling of hatred still did not fade. Hidden somewhere deep inside him, it was growing stronger, and waiting for the right time to strike and make him self-destruct.

He was confusing himself. Mixed emotions were never something he had to deal with before. He looked at her face, she had already drifted into sleep in his arms. It pained him, knowing that what he was doing to her was so wrong. She most likely knew that he was taking advantage of her, but either way, she allowed it. She probably knew what he had went through for his whole life up until this point, and only wanted to help him, even if it meant throwing away her own life and all that she has lived up to in her six hundred years on this earth. She was once, and according to history, she is a knight. That made her a hero already. She stepped into line to give her life for whoever needed it back then, and she was doing it again now. The facts made him feel even worse.

_Ha... I never cared about wrongdoing before. _He thought sarcastically. He ran his fingers through her hair as she slept. _You look so peaceful in your sleep. I'm sorry, Mariana._ He wondered if she was really alright with it, and worried if she would ever forgive him if she was not. _But, thank you. You're helping me survive. _He kissed her forehead and continued to run his fingers through her hair. She stirred, but did not wake.

Holding her close, he fell asleep as well.

In Nefarious' dream, he was alone in an old abandoned cemetery in the middle of the woods. He had no clue where he was. Looking around, he saw all the tombstones. Engraved on each of them was someone with the family name... 'Tropy'. He was a little disturbed and looked at all their names. He recognized a few as relatives he had met when he was a small child, but the rest were people he had never even heard of. Looking around again, it was not only the tombstones nearby, but every other tombstone was engraved with someone with his family name... Until he found three new tombstones lined up.

... Neo Periwinkle Cortex ... N. Gin ... Nitrous Brio ...

He jumped back in alarm, then began searching all over the cemetery for his own tombstone... but it was nowhere to be found. He ran back to the graves of his friends and looked at the death dates. Dr. Cortex's was 2054. N. Gin's was 2053. Dr. Brio's was 2051. This was confusing him. He should have been dead by then. Or at least _he_ thought so.

He looked around on the spot, and got an ancient church in his sights. Standing near it was a hooded figure holding a scythe. He could see the eyes of that person glowing red in the dark shadow created by the hood. It beckoned for him, and disappeared into the church. Not knowing what else to do, he followed it inside. This _was_ only a dream, after all. If something happened here, it would not matter.

The inside of the church was black as pitch. He smacked his knee on something. Surprisingly, he felt it. Walking further in, following the red eyes, he stepped on something, hearing a crunching sound. He stopped abruptly. Candles were lit by themselves. Looking down, he noticed that what he had stepped on... was the ribcage of a skeleton. He jumped away from it, looking back at the hooded figure. It had faced its back to him, looking at a painting of a pentagram. Lowering its hood, it looked back at him. He was surprised, shocked really, to see himself standing there. Still looking like he was twenty-six years old.

"You were warned..." the cloaked him said. "Of the price of evil... Why did you not listen?" He paced in front of the pews. "She warned you. She knew what it would do to you, and you knew. But no... you had to break her mind by saying the three words that brought so many to their deaths."

"What?" The real him was confused. He had no idea what he was talking about. His cloaked self laughed.

He walked up and got in his real self's face. "It's. Worth. It." He said, one word at a time. The real Nefarious could see the hatred in the eyes of the other him. "You're... no, _I'm_ a monster." He said, his voice softening, but not his expression. "Be thankful that this is only a dream... or I would kill you like the Necromancer that you've become!" He stepped back, throwing his arms up into the air when he said 'Necromancer'.

"What the hell are you talking about?" The real Nefarious was getting confused and angry. "I'm not a Necromancer!"

"Not yet, but you _will _be!" He shook his head in grief. "So, heed my warning, and GIVE IT UP. It's definitely NOT worth it."

The real him sighed. "What happened? Tell me, so I can avoid it."

"You figure it out." He replied with a cold look. "Just keep in mind, give up Necromancy, and..." he laid a hand on the real one's shoulder. "Never break her heart again." He no longer looked hostile, only sad. "That's the worst thing that you've ever done... then comes killing people. She won't forgive you, and then you're _really_ all alone."

Nefarious took a minute to keep these thoughts in his head, then he wondered. "What year is it?"

"Now?"

"Yeah."

"It's at least 10,000."

The real him was speechless.

"Yeah, time really goes by." He laughed sarcastically. "Funny coming from me, once the Master of Time... Yes, that was my old title." He paused. "One last thing." He lifted his real self's shirt and pushed his palm hard on his back.

The real him screamed in pain. It was like a fire was burning inside him. This lasted for a few minutes, and then it stopped abruptly. He found himself on the floor... and his future self was gone.

Nefarious awoke with a start and a scream of fear, making Mariana jolt next to him.

"What's wrong?" She asked concerned.

He ran to a mirror and looked closely at himself. His eyes were still green. He sighed in relief, but then realized that his back hurt.

"Hold still." Mariana said firmly. She lifted his shirt to take a look at his back, and she gasped. "Oh my god..."

"What, what?" He was freaking out now.

Okay, better in my opinion. Now, the first part up until Nefarious fell asleep was inspired by "Hero" by Skillet. Then, from where he falls asleep until he wakes up was inspired by "Nightmare" by Avenged Sevenfold and "Monster" also by Skillet. Try listening to them while reading this, please. I just hope you enjoyed this bit.


	10. Chapter 10

"I... can't believe it." Mariana whispered. She traced what was on his back with one cold finger. First a circle... then one... two... three... four... five lines, in the shape of a star. From what Nefarious could feel, and from what he knew, it was a pentagram. Just like the pendant and ear rings she was wearing.

He began to wonder why his future self in his dream would burn a pentagram onto his back. Maybe it was not just a dream... perhaps it was a vision of the future, more or less. Or not just a vision, truly a warning. He did not want to believe it. None of his other nightmares were true, but then again, he was after all dealing with serious black magic. He began to feel afraid as Mariana just stood there with his shirt lifted up with one hand, the other hand flat against his back in the middle of the pentagram. Then, she did the most unexpected thing... she hugged him tightly from behind.

"What? What's wrong, Mariana?" He was more concerned than ever. She was shaking like she was crying, but she was actually laughing. His concern turned into confusion.

"You... you were meant to do this..." she whispered, almost too quietly for him to hear. "Nefarious, do you know what this means?"

"Um, no?" His heart gave another hard squeeze as she said his name. He looked down at her arms which were so tightly wrapped around his diaphragm, he had trouble breathing. This meant it could either be really good, or really bad. He decided to think optimistically and say to himself that it was a good thing.

Mariana inhaled deeply. "You are cursed..." She finally said. She said it in such a flat tone, it seemed like a joke, but he knew she was serious.

"How cursed?" He asked cautiously, holding onto her wrists.

"There is no level of curses, this is not a video game." She sighed, resting her head against his back. "You will just turn out like me."

"Oh. Then, I see nothing wrong with it." He was only trying to cheer her up, but he then swore he heard a crack. No... he _felt_ it, too. It took a second, but the pain finally reached him when he realized that one of his ribs had been broken by her. _"What was that for?" _He exclaimed. She jumped back, and he turned to face her, holding his ribcage in pain. He was shocked by her appearance. She was halfway into the Necromancer's state, but still halfway human. One eye was black, the other was half green and half red.

"It's all my fault, Nefarious!" She screamed. "First Ella, now... you..." She dropped onto her knees, crying. "I LET HER DIE!" She then fell over onto her back, her tears running down the sides of her face. "I let her die, Nefarious... even though I warned her... I told her what it would do... she knew... but she said..."

Nefarious dropped onto his knees beside her and scooped her up, hugging her tightly. He rubbed her head and her back, trying to comfort her, but he was making no progress. "What did she say, Mariana?" He whispered in her ear. He was convinced that, after seeing his nightmare, he knew the answer, but he thought it would be better to ask, just in case.

"It's... worth... it, Mariana..." She said sadly. Her voice was not her own now, but some other female's. "It's worth it, Mariana." She repeated in a stronger voice that was now her own, and it was angry.

Nefarious held tighter to her. He had been right. "Tell me what happened." He said firmly.

"I was nearing fifty years after death," she explained calmly. "My group, or cult if you will, of Necromancers were holding a ritual one night, and I headed to the altar to meet them. My friend, Ellen..." Her voice cracked when she said her friends name. "She was onto me about being a Necromancer, and decided to follow me. She caught us performing the ritual, and got a hold on my robes when I was leaving the altar... literally." She paused to catch her breath. "I knew that I had to kill her for knowing our secret, but I just couldn't. So... I..." Another tear flowed down her face. Nefarious wiped it away. "I promised to teach her our ways in exchange for keeping quiet."

"Basically you said you'd teach her Necromancy, right?" Nefarious asked.

"Yes... We began like I did with you. With meditation. But, she had a nightmare... and woke up with the pentagram on her back... just...like...you..." Nefarious kissed her forehead, she clung to him as if hoping for some kind of support. He was not sure if he was, or even could give that to her.

"Go on. I'm here. You're not alone, and you never will be as long as I'm here." He said. It was no lie, he meant those words straight from his heart.

"Thank you." She clung tighter. "I didn't know what it meant, so we continued. And... she did something stupid without me there."

"What's that?"

"She... tried to summon... Cthulhu..." She clung even tighter now, so he held her as tight as he could with a broken rib. "When I found her... she was on her deathbed... and I blamed myself, just like I am doing now. I sat there with her, trying to figure out any way to keep her alive, but she wanted the immortality. And she told me... It's worth it, Mariana... and she died. No afterlife. No immortality. Just cold nothingness..."

She broke out crying again. "I can't let that happen to you, Nefarious... I just can't..."

Nefarious just now realized how much he hated seeing her like this. He pulled her into another kiss, all the while not letting his grip on her loosen. She desperately held on to him, like she herself was going to die.

"I'll never hurt you like that, Mariana." He said after letting up from their kiss. "And never think that I would... I... I love you too much..."

"What?" She was not expecting that.

"Um, I mean I love you like a best friend, and I never want to see you like this again!" He said quickly. _What the hell was _that_? _He thought. "Just remember, I'm not interested in immortality or eternity or that great power, I just want to know everything I can about it... like a hobby."

"D-don't lie to me, Nefarious."

"I wouldn't."

They were silent for a moment, just sitting there on the cold stone floor, holding on to each other with all their strength. Nefarious decided to break the silence.

"And another thing I want you to always keep in mind." He felt her nod. "You'll never be alone. If you need me, I'll be right there with you." He kissed her again.

"Thank you." She said with a small sad smile. "I just have one question."

"What's that?"

"Why do you kiss me if you say you only love me like a best friend?" That was a seriously good question. Nefarious had never thought about that, and he had no answer, so he decided to answer that with another question.

"Well, why do _you_ kiss me _back_?"

Mariana chuckled once. "I can't answer that just yet."

"I can't answer your question just yet, either."

"Fair enough." She hugged him tightly again, burying her face in his chest. He held her, unwilling to let go. Right now, there was nothing else in the world that he wanted but her. This was also a new feeling. He was just wondering about why he had said he loved her. It made no sense. Right now, she felt like the only real thing in his life. He had no confidence that he could carry on without her there. That made him wonder how he had ever made it twenty-six years alone.

"Aww, how adorable!" It was Dr. Cortex's voice. The two looked in the direction of the infirmary door, and sure enough, Dr. Cortex was standing there with a grin on his face.

Nefarious began to pull away from Mariana, and she pushed away from him. The result being; they both ended up flat on their backs on the stone floor.

"Oh, come on! Don't tell me I scared you that much! Especially not a Necromancer of your level, Mariana!"

"How long were you there?" Nefarious asked sharply.

Dr. Cortex chuckled. "Since you told her you'll be right there if she needed you. That's so cute!" He sighed dreamily. "You've become a man. I'm proud of you."

_Oh, shit. That means he saw us kiss, doesn't it? _He thought dreadfully. He then turned to Mariana. "Do you need me right now?" He asked, a little more force in his voice than intended.

She shook her head. "Thank you, Nefarious." She smiled at him. A full fledged smile. It made his heart throb.

"Don't mention it." He smiled back as best as he could, then got up and rushed out of the room. He felt as if he were going to be sick. He ran down the stairs and through the corridors until he reached the kitchen. To his surprise, N. Gin and the Banshee were sitting there making conversation.

"So, what's it like being an omen of death?" N. Gin asked curiously.

"It issss quite fassssscinating." The Banshee replied. She must have caught Nefarious' scent. She turned to face him, and hissed. With the most demonic look on her face and without taking her eyes off of him, she disappeared.

"Damn, you're freaky." Nefarious said to the air.

"Me?" N. Gin wondered.

"No, the Banshee."

"Oh."

Nefarious took a seat next to him. He knew how N. Gin must feel about Coco, so he decided to ask him something. "N. Gin, I feel like I've gotten too close to Mariana too soon."

"There's never a too soon, only a too late." He replied. "I was almost too late."

"Hmm..." Nefarious pondered this for a minute. "But, I feel like I'm taking advantage of her, Gin."

N. Gin gave him a blank look. "Dude..." he began in a flat tone. "You're not taking advantage of her." He slapped a hand on his shoulder. "You're in love with her, man."

Nefarious could not believe what he was hearing.

"Me, _in love?_ Preposterous!" He stood up and looked away from N. Gin. "Do I honestly look like the kind of person who would really fall in love with someone? I mean, seriously! I..." He stopped in mid-sentence. Mariana was standing there in the doorway to the kitchen. She said nothing and walked away. "Damn it..." He had no strength to chase after her or say anything better.

"She'll come around." N. Gin said, pulling him down into his seat. "But, she won't until you accept the fact that: YOU. LOVE. HER. If you don't, that's when it's too late."

That was all Nefarious could take. He stood back up and ran down the corridor after Mariana at full speed. He caught up with her and pulled her in to an embrace.

"Mariana... I'm sorry..." He apologized. "I just never thought it would be true. You make me feel like a human, you make me feel alive, you lift me from all my pains, you're everything that I could have ever wanted or needed in this hell of a life, and I can't believe I found someone like you. I can't believe I realized this after only a short period with you, it seems unreal. _You_ seem unreal. Like you're a dream, yet here you are... in my arms... right now. Ah, hell, Mariana... I think Gin is right... I think I really do love you. Wow, I said I think... I only wished I had experience of these feelings so I could tell you if I really did or not. But, I really think I love you. I don't want to let you go. So, I'll just say it... Mariana,_ I love you_."

She turned around in his arms to look at him. She was crying again. "That's what I wanted to say earlier, Nefarious. I... I love you. I just thought it would be too soon to say something."

Once again, he couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he decided to. This time it was her who pulled him into a kiss. He was happier than he had ever been in his life, and he was sure that she was, too.

Okay, from the beginning to where Dr. Cortex stepped in was inspired by "Whispers in the Dark" and "Comatose" both by Skillet. And, from where Nefarious took a seat next to N. Gin until the end was inspired by "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem.


	11. Chapter 11

Nefarious and Mariana just stood there embracing for what seemed like forever. It was not like earlier when they were clinging onto each other for dear life, but totally affectionate. Who would have ever thought that this day would come for the infamous Dr. Nefarious Tropy? Certainly not him. He wished he knew what Mariana was thinking about all of this. He wondered exactly how she felt about him, and since he opened up and blurted everything out, he wanted her to tell him. But, he was not about to rush her, especially not if she was the 'love of his life'.

He now felt it necessary to slow things down between them, just so he had no chance of hurting her in any way. It reminded him of what his future self in his nightmare had said about never hurting her again. Five minutes ago, he had done just that, but he had redeemed himself. Thinking back to both his nightmare and earlier conversation with her, he realized that in a certain amount of time, he was going to screw up in Necromancy, end up like her friend Ellen, and say that it was worth it. But, somehow, he was going to live through all of it. He would live, become a true Necromancer like her… and end up alone for eternity… or from what he had read in the Necronomicon, until Cthulhu decides to eat him when he returns when the stars are right. He thought it best to ask her about Cthulhu. She would probably know more from personal experiences than what a book written by Abdul Alhazred, also known as the Mad Arab, could tell a person.

"Mariana, I need to kn…" He was cut short by the sound of an explosion. N. Gin burst into the corridor with a horror-ridden expression on his face.

Without letting go of Mariana, Nefarious asked him, "What did you blow up _now_, Gin?"

"We're under attack!" N. Gin exclaimed. "Crash Bandicoot is here!"

"What?" Now he was confused. Crash _never_ came directly to them unless they were undergoing an evil plot. "Why?"

"They want me back on the island." Mariana said gravely. "The tribe that took me in."

"How do you know that, dear?" Dr. Cortex had not been far behind N. Gin. He was holding a blaster in his right hand, and a freakishly long scythe in his left. He tossed the scythe to her.

"Last night, I actually came home early." She explained, catching her scythe. "They wanted me back, and I refused. They began attacking me, and… I could have killed them, but they were with me my entire life, _and_… Cthulhu did not need any more sacrifices than what we gave Him."

"Sa…cri…fices…" Nefarious sounded shocked and repeated the word, syllable by syllable.

She kissed him on the cheek. "Only for born Necromancers. _You_ cannot take part of _those kind_ of rituals." She continued. "Anywho, they must have went to this… Crash, for assistance. Damn… they know I won't hurt animals. They're using it against me."

"He's a mutant." Dr. Cortex corrected her flatly.

"Either way, he was once an average marsupial, yes?"

"…Okay, yeah. He was." They heard another explosion coming from directly behind them. Crash stepped into the corridor. He was holding some sort of bazooka on his shoulder. Dr. Cortex screamed and hid behind N. Gin, who was holding his own oversized rocket launcher on his shoulder.

_Oh, Crap! _Nefarious thought. _I don't have my tuning fork!_ Suddenly, the pentagram on his back began to burn, and he fell to his knees with a yell of pain. _What the bloody hell? _Crash gave him a confused look, but then looked at Mariana. He pointed the laser of the bazooka right at her heart.

"N…no!" Nefarious was in too much pain to stand. He noticed that she had gone into the Necromancer's state and she was too close to him, making him feel weaker.

"Take your best…" BOOM! She was cut off in mid-sentence by the deafening sound of Crash's bazooka. It hit her right in the center of her chest, sending her flying back into the wall on the far end of the corridor. The hit the wall with a loud SMACK, and slid to the floor with a dull THUD. No one said anything. N. Gin and Dr. Cortex were both too shocked to fire back.

That did it. Nefarious rose to his feet without any struggle at all. He felt his eyes shifting in some way as he took up a stance. It was not his normal fighting stance, either. His legs were straight and pushed together at the knees, his back was just as straight, and he held his arms down, and then turned his elbows upwards to a sixty-five degree angle. His hands seemed to catch on fire, but it was not an average fire… it was purple. He felt himself begin to levitate.

Other than rage, he felt completely and utterly emotionless. It was as if he was meditating, but this time it was different. He still had no control over his emotions, but it was not a trance. He could move, he could hate… and he felt somewhat insane. But it did not bother him one bit. He wanted to kill. That was all that mattered.

Stretching one arm out at Crash, the bandicoot seemed to freeze on the spot. He imagined his hand around his neck, and he closed it. Crash began struggling as if he were being choked by some invisible force. Nefarious decided to have some fun. He loosened his grip, but did not release him. He lifted his arm, picking Crash up off the floor from at least fifty feet away, and swiftly swung it to the left. Crash smacked right into the wall. He was then thrown onto the floor, picked up, smashed into the right wall, then onto the ceiling, and then onto the floor again.

He began to laugh, and it was not a 'sane' laugh, either. He ran his tongue over his top row of teeth, only to realize that he had fangs growing in where his canines should be.

"Aha…. AHA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!" He broke out into hysterics, swinging Crash from left to right and continuously smashing him into walls and such. "NOW _THIS_…_ THIS_ IS _POWER_! AHA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!" He used the invisible force to pull Crash up to eye level. He and the other two doctors could instantly see the life force being sucked right out of the bandicoot. It was madness.

"Dr. Tropy!" Dr. Cortex screamed. "Mariana's alright! Put him down!" But his words did not reach Nefarious' ears. He was too caught up in his insanity. Suddenly, a long blade ripped into his right shoulder. He screamed in pain and lost his focus, dropping Crash with only moments to spare. Dr. Cortex and N. Gin sighed in relief at the fact that Crash was still alive, which is strange. They were always trying to kill the bandicoot, but seeing him busted up like _that_, they worried. They were still worried about Nefarious' condition… a 16.5 foot long scythe blade sticking out of his shoulder, demonic features, and inner insanity that they have never seen before. And the strangest part of it all: Mariana was the one who had ripped into him with her scythe. He turned to face her.

There was a hole in her robes, and there should have been a hole going straight through her chest, but it was only raw skin… or whatever raw skin looked like when the natural skin color is white. She was breathing hard, cold sweat running down her face, and she was only halfway into the state of the Necromancer.

"Ne…farious…" She huffed. "Stop." She looked as if she were going to beg him. "Regain your focus… meditate _right now_." She commanded weakly.

Seeing her like this made him obey. He closed his eyes and began the Necromancer's meditation. Once again, he had no feeling whatsoever. He was alone with only his thoughts. He felt some sort of force helping him, and decided that it must have been her lending him her power. After who knows how long, he felt normal again… only weak.

Mariana pulled her scythe's blade out of his shoulder, and he fell over in both pain and exhaustion. She fell forward right next to him in the same state as he was in, dropping her scythe. They were both breathing hard, wheezing if you will. Staring each other down, he could tell that she was livid with him, but relieved that he was alright. With the rest of his strength, he put one arm around her.

"Thank you…" He whispered. "I'm sorry…" All went black.

When he awoke, he was in one of the hospital beds in the infirmary. Mariana was in the bed on his left, and Crash was in the one on his right. He remembered all that had happened, and was regretting it. He hated himself.

What did the world expect of him? He was doing many new things, experiencing new feelings. He had never felt so protective of one person. But it seemed as if he was failing, making mistakes every step of the way, but who could blame him? In the end, would it even matter? He felt as if he were going over the edge… of sanity, and of life.

Everything up to this point in his life must have been mistake after mistake… never ending screw ups. He failed to be an average person, an evil henchman, a Necromancer, and worst of all… a loving guardian. He wondered if it would ever end. He wondered how long it would take for him to do something right in someone else's eyes. He wondered how long it would take for him to do something right in his own eyes. He guessed that he would just have to wait and see. Not wanting to be what other people want him to be, but wanting to be his own person, whatever that was, he stared at the ceiling, and tears flowed down his face.

_Am I going to be a failure forever? _He wondered.

From the part where Nefarious stood up to fight Crash to the end was inspired by "Numb" by Linkin Park. Hope you all are enjoying this so far! I don't know exactly how far it's going to go. ^_^;


	12. Chapter 12

Suddenly, Mariana began to twitch. Nefarious had caught this out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head to face her, he found himself looking directly into her eyes. He was surprised to see that they were not ruby-red, but the deepest and purest of emerald green… just like when they had met. At first she stared at him with a blank expression on her face, but then her lips widened into a smile.

Nefarious was not sure how to take this. He expected her to be yelling at him, whether or not he was on a hospital bed or not. Instead, she only looked as if she was happy to see that he was alright. Even still, he figured that she probably had hell in store for him later on. She sat up, and then dropped out of the hospital bed, landing on both feet. She looked as if she has already had a full recovery… except the part where he could see the aftermath of Crash's bazooka.

It looked different than when he was under the control of his anger. It was not raw skin, there was only a scar, and a slight grey mark around where it hit. He guessed that it was a burn.

She walked over and laid down with him, cuddled up, and being careful of the shoulder that she had ripped into. He eagerly wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close and tight against him. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he put his right arm around her, too.

"How do you feel?" She asked. "Wait… how _did_ you feel?"

"Um… I only felt anger." He replied. A simple enough answer. "I don't know why, though."

Mariana sighed and hugged him tighter. "You were in the state of the Necromancer."

Nefarious was not just about to believe that. "Impossible." He quickly retorted. "I am not yet a Necromancer."

"Yes… you are." She had a sad tone in her voice. "I'm sorry, Nefarious. I never should have let you begin."

"Don't be absurd!"

"What…?" A question mark appeared above her head, so to speak. "I'm not going to let you blame yourself for my mistake."

Nefarious chuckled. "Now, Mariana my dear…" he lovingly stroked her hair and then kissed the top of her head. "If you're going to apologize, then I must."

"…What the hell are you talking about?" She questioned.

"I'm sorry you got stuck with me. Me of all people…" He tried to hold her closer, but she pushed against his chest, forcing him away just a little so that she could take a look at his face. Of course, he was being honest with her, and was speaking his true feelings. "But you know…"

"Zitto." She said plain and simple. He knew what that meant; shut up. "I don't feel like I'm _stuck_ with you, Nefarious. I _chose_ you because I fell in love with you, and that's that. Now… you need to stop with Necromancy."

"Mariana, I'm glad you feel the same way for me. About Necromancy, how can I stop when it's brought me this close to you? I don't want the immortality or the power, I only want _you_…" He just could not believe the truth behind those words. Although he _did_ want the Time Twisting ability, and he _still_ felt the feeling of hatred that he always felt buried somewhere deep inside of him, everything he said, he meant it. He could care less about the immortality part, only as long as he had her. She was truly all that he had ever needed and wanted in life.

He pulled her back to him and pressed his lips to hers. She eagerly kissed him back. Shifting around a little bit while messing up each other's hair, he eventually found himself sitting on top of her. They pulled out of their kiss for a few seconds to carefully study their position. It was as if something had clicked inside of their heads.

Nefarious had began taking off her hooded cloak from where she had been shot with the bazooka, for it was much easier to slide off her shoulders from there, while she unbuttoned his lab coat. Pretty soon, they were both topless… when Dr. Cortex and N. Gin had walked in with Uka Uka and the Banshee.

"Oh my!" Dr. Cortex exclaimed. He hid his face and laughed.

"Naughty, naughty!" N. Gin laughed. He was literally rolling on the floor in hysterics.

Uka Uka and the Banshee just had the most dumbfounded looks on their faces. They looked at each other and then just burst out in laughter.

Thinking quickly, Nefarious wrapped Mariana in his lab coat. They were both too embarrassed to speak. Next to them, Crash woke up from all the excitement, looked around, and scratched his head, wondering what was going on. He looked to the four who had just entered the room who were up in hysterics, and then looked at Mariana and Nefarious. He decided that this would be a perfect chance to escape.

Luckily, there was a window next to his bed with a tree right next to it. He slipped out the window and ran away.

Uka Uka was the first to notice that Crash was missing, and flew into the backs of Dr. Cortex's and N. Gin's heads.

"Go get him, you idiots!" He shouted angrily.

Dr. Cortex and N. Gin ran out of the room, and Uka Uka followed. The Banshee stared down Mariana and Nefarious.

"Masssster…" She began. "There isssss ssssomething you musssst know. Come with me… once you are dressssed…" She began laughing again and exited the room, leaving the two alone.

Mariana huffed and pulled off Nefarious' lab coat. "Now, where were we?" She smiled playfully, kissing his bare chest and beginning to undo his belt.

He was a little surprised by her enthusiasm, but decided to let it go. To him, nothing else mattered right now except her. He did not even care if the Banshee were to come back. If what she was saying is one-hundred percent true, he is a Necromancer. This meant that the Banshee would have no choice but to obey him, too.

"Are you sure?" He asked her. "You really _will _get stuck with me, you know?" He held her face in his hands and smiled at her. "Just to let you know, I'm yours."

"And I'm yours." She smiled back at him. "I'm sure about this."

"Good." He pulled her close and then kissed her neck.

It had to have been noon when the two had woken up. All time seemed to have stopped last night, which was a very unusual and uncomfortable thing for Nefarious, but he did not think of it that way. Even _he_ would admit that he had the night of his life, and would have probably never gotten his chance if he had not met the love of his life, Mariana. He had grown attached to her, and never wanted to leave her side.

His shoulder still stung from the blade he had taken the other day, and Mariana had gotten a little excited and decided to bite him in his opposite shoulder.

He looked over at her, and she looked at him with a smile. He smiled back and kissed her once.

"Good morning." She said.

"Good afternoon, my dear." Nefarious playfully corrected her. She giggled. "What is on the agenda for today?"

"Perhaps some meditation, if you're up to it?" She suggested. "But, you know… I could just lay here with you for the rest of the day… or maybe, another round?"

Nefarious chuckled and kissed her forehead. "Don't do that to yourself, Mariana. What do you really want to do today?"

"I have a suggestion!" It was N. Gin's voice. The two looked over to the doorway, and he was standing there. "Take her faceboarding! Uka Uka said he'll be glad to do it!"

"I DID _NOT_, YOU IMBICILE!" Uka Uka yelled. He had floated by right when N. Gin had said that.

"Oh, come on, great Uka Uka!" N. Gin nudged him with his elbow. "Mariana's _never_ been faceboarding! Right, Mariana?" He turned to her and winked.

"Um… no?" She blushed, sounding a little confused. Being seen like that with Nefarious was not her idea of humor. "What is faceboarding?"

"Simple!" N. Gin grabbed Uka Uka out of the air, threw him down on the floor, jumped on him, and slid around the room. All the while, Uka Uka was screaming in pain and anger. When N. Gin stopped, Uka Uka floated away at high speeds, trying to get away from him.

"Wow…" That was all Mariana could say. She hugged tightly to Nefarious and said, "Want to?"

He gave her a very amused look. "Are you _serious_? A klutz like _you_ on a mountain path, riding a _mask_…" He paused to consider it. "I'm ready when you are!"

Until and after the four stepped in, and until N. Gin came back was inspired by "All I Ever Wanted" by Basshunter. Happy reading!


	13. Chapter 13

"Great!" N. Gin said. "Meet me on the first floor when, ahem… you two are done." He winked again at the two of them. Nefarious noticed Mariana blushing. He chuckled and held her close, rustling her hair. Looking at the scar and burn on her chest, he proceeded to kiss it gently.

"I'm sorry that happened." He apologized to her. "You should have left it to us. We would have figured it out _without_ you getting hurt." He felt her shrug. Looking up to her face, he found no regret whatsoever in her eyes.

"What is done is done." She said simply. "I think… nn…" She had been interrupted by a kiss. She took his face in her icy hands and traced its outline. She lightly wrapped one of his long beards around her index finger and let it go; like a spring.

Every moment with her made him feel so alive… so real… so… in-touch with reality. It was not only their intimacy, oh no. It was everything about her that made him feel that way. The only one outside of the N-Team and late friend Jeffery who has ever been truly kind to him, has not been frightened by his appearance, and was not terrified by his unhealthy obsession with time. She was also like a mother to him in many ways, which was unusual but not at all unpleasant.

Suddenly, the Pentagram on his back began to burn again. He focused on fighting off, and or ignoring the pain, but it did not seem to work. He broke away from his kiss with Mariana a little too quickly, and fell over onto his back. The Pentagram began to sting even more, but the pain did not spread throughout his entire body. It stayed perfectly on the lines of the circle and the star, and it felt as if it was stabbing further and further into his body, making every organ of his burn like the fires of Hell. He let out a small cry of pain and cringed. Feeling his eyes shift again, he began to lose consciousness.

Mariana, of course worried about him, laid her palm on his stomach and chanted something under her breath. Her hand lit up, but whatever spell she used obviously did no good.

"I _really_ did _not_ want to do this, but…" She pulled her arm back, and made her hand into a fist. With blinding speed, strength, and accuracy, she punched him right in the center of his stomach.

The wind was forcibly knocked out of him in one sharp gasp, and he felt as if he could vomit from the impact, but the Pentagram had stopped burning, and _that_ pain was gone completely. Now he had a new pain to deal with. As if trying to ease the pain from Mariana's punch with the blanket under him, he rolled over onto his stomach, but ended up falling off the side of the bed, and he found himself kissing the cold stone floor. This impact also had an effect on him wanting to run to the bathroom and be done with it. Unfortunately, now, he had no other option, and did as such.

Mariana face palmed herself and said, "I am an idiot…" She quickly put on his lab coat, buttoning it up most of the way, and grabbed her robes. Rushing into the bathroom, she found Nefarious laying on his right side next to the toilet. She flushed it, sat him upright, and began pulling her robes over his head. Putting the hood down, she rested one hand on his pale face, and rubbed his back with the other.

"Are you alright, Nefarious?" She asked worriedly. He looked as if he were going to faint. "I'm sorry… I didn't want to, but there was no other option."

He grabbed the wrist of the hand that she had put against his face, and set it on his forehead. "But mum… I don't want to go to school…"

"Oh, great…" Mariana face palmed herself again.

"Allo, governor! Care for a spot of tea?" He paused. "No, wait! Marry me, paupet!"

"What?" She almost could not believe what she was hearing from him. "Am I the governor, or your mother, or what?" And to make it worse, she was getting annoyed.

"Siete il sole… la luna… le stelle… ed il miei e soltanto amore…" He held her close and whispered lovingly in her ear. He slowly traced her outline from under her arms down to her hips, sending a slight chill through her body. With one hand on her back holding her securely to him, he rubbed one of her alabaster-white thighs with the other hand, making her shiver. "Don't freak on me now, you were just fine last night."

"Your sudden change in personality is what is scaring me." She said with a hint of anger in her voice. Although she was flattered and blushing about what he had just said to her in Italian, she wished that he would just act normally.

"You look even more beautiful in white than you do in black." He said as he studied her wearing his lab coat. Slipping the closest button to the collar that was closed out of its hole, he added, "It's a shame you need to take it off…" He slipped one hand into her shirt, touched her Pentagram pendant lightly with the tips of his fingers, and added, "Please… just take it off… all of it…"

A loud SMACK was heard, and the left side of Nefarious' face was red. He shut his eyes tightly, shook his head, and then opened them again, as if he was coming out of a trance.

"Wuh?" He wondered what all had just happened. "Where are we? Why are we wearing each other's clothes? What just hit me?" He paused to look at her carefully. "Hmm, you look good in white."

Mariana sighed in relief. "We are in the bathroom, I found it easier to slip my robes onto you while sitting down, and…_ I_ just hit you."

"I'm sorry, Mariana." He apologized. "I only get that way when I, well… now you know." He embraced her again, this time trying to kiss her, but then he remembered, "Um… I'll brush my teeth first."

"Please and thank you." As he stood up and headed to the sink, she cast him another full-fledged smile, making his heart pound heavily. As he began to brush his teeth, she stood up, wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his back. He felt his heartbeat pick up again. As he leaned over to spit the toothpaste out into the sink, he felt her grip tighten on him, and she was lifted up. Resting on his arched back, she began to hum something like church music… only the depressing and or haunted-church type played by an organ.

"What tune is that?" He asked out of curiosity.

"I don't know." She said as she was lowered to her feet when he straightened himself out. "Random melody I remember from a ritual night."

"Oh." He turned around in her arms and kissed her. Once more, he slipped his tongue into her mouth, making her moan. She knotted her fingers in his black, silk-like hair as if refusing to let him go anywhere.

"Mm… minty." She said, giggling in between their kiss. He himself chuckled, too. She secured his face to hers, and he tightened his grip around her waist. He hoisted her up and pressed her back against the wall. Their bodies now created a solid line when a shiver suddenly ran down her spine, and he felt it too.

"What's wrong? He asked without letting up.

"Again?" She wondered, somewhat hopefully, somewhat surprised.

"Maybe…" He gave her a gentle nudge.

"Come on, babies! Work it!" N. Gin was standing in the bathroom doorway holding a video camera. "Ahh, Mariana? You could be a little more, I don't know… slutty?" He shrugged. "And, Nefarious… you could get a little more rough with that kiss. Know what I'm saying?"

"N. Gin, _what the Hell are you doing?_" It was Mariana who had shouted it, making Nefarious laugh so hard, he felt as if he were going to fall backwards.

"You Tube!" N. Gin just smiled at her broadly.

"WHAT?" Nefarious had stopped laughing and shouted with Mariana now.

"I am _not_ a tube!" Mariana growled.

It was N. Gin's turn to laugh. "Just kidding. This thing doesn't even _have_ batteries." He popped open the empty battery chamber to prove his point. The other two sighed and slumped their shoulders in relief. "I was just wondering if you two were ready to go or not. Uka Uka even called Aku Aku for Mariana to ride."

"Seriously?" Nefarious sounded amused. "Uka Uka and Aku Aku… _together_ again?" He laughed once. "This is almost as good as Twinsanity." The doctors decided to name that particular adventure of theirs "Twinsanity", from the insanity they had to put up with while fighting the Evil Twins. Dr. Cortex was even thinking about writing a book about it. The other doctors had all bet that when he did write such a book, almost one-hundred pages of its contents would be filled with detailed descriptions of how much he hated Crash, and what he wanted to do to him. He even remembered N. Gin saying, "Five bucks says he wants to use his head as a soccer ball." He could not wait until it was finished and or published to be able to check it and make five dollars. He snickered at the memory.

"Yeah!" N. Gin leaned against the door frame. "Let's go already! I'll leave you… wait… no, I won't. If I leave you two alone again, something will happen that'll make me wish I had batteries." He grabbed both of their wrists. "Let's go!" He pulled them down the seemingly endless flights of stairs into the entrance hall. Uka Uka and Aku Aku were floating there.

"What took you so long?" Uka Uka sounded upset.

"Sorry, I wasn't feeling well and…" Nefarious began to explain when N. Gin cut him off.

"He barfed." He said plain and simple. "Got really screwed up in the head like always, got smacked, was brought back to his senses, brushed his teeth, and they made out for like five minutes before I made my presence known." Nefarious punched him on the top of his head. "OW! What? That was _awesome_!"

"Only you would say that, Gin…" Nefarious sighed.

With that being said, the five of them walked out of the castle. Uka Uka and Aku Aku combined their magic to take them directly to the Wastelands.

The Wastelands were mostly made up of orange rock and sand; there were many cacti to weave in and out of making a perfect obstacle course; there were too many caves to count, most with long winding tunnels for the perfect racing and speed test; and best of all… there were no animals that would get in their way.

"This looks…" Mariana stopped in mid-sentence.

"Fun?" N. Gin suggested.

"Awesome?" Said Nefarious.

"Thrilling?" Aku Aku added.

"Painful?" Uka Uka gulped.

"Um… all of the above…" Mariana finally came to the decision that she could not choose one word to describe her feelings right now.


	14. Chapter 14

Okay, it's been a while, I know! Please try to remember the rest of the story!

N. Gin ran his fingers through his tangerine-like hair. He felt the dry wind of the Wastelands, as did the others. It felt nice after being inside a musty old castle for so long.

Nefarious laid a protective hand on Mariana's shoulder when he noticed Uka Uka looking at her critically, and somewhat accusingly. He held her to him, as if trying to keep her out of Uka Uka's dark mind. Casting his own accusing glare to Uka Uka, he left Mariana's side to go towards him, for he was his "board".

"Forgive me, Uka Uka." Nefarious said sarcastically. "But what must be done, must be done."

The evil witch doctor mask just glared back at him, huffed once, and laid his self face-down on the soft, crimson sand. "Just be thankful I'm not going to send you into a stone wall." The hunk of wood grumbled.

"Okay. Thank you." Nefarious tried to sound as sarcastic as possible without getting ahead of his self. Changing his attitude completely, he looked towards Mariana and smiled. N. Gin was helping her stand up straight on Aku Aku. When she finally got it down pat, she looked towards him and flashed him a wide grin.

"Alright," N. Gin began. "I just want to warn you about the Wastelands, Ma….!"

"GO!" Before he could begin explaining, or even finish his sentence, Mariana kicked at the ground and went flying down a hill at full speed. She jumped at a cavern opening, grinded on a rock and then a sand dune, and went sailing off a cliff. She performed a Super Man, a back flip, and a Twister before carefully landing on the sand below, and gracefully gliding forward.

Awestruck and dumbfounded, Nefarious and N. Gin watched her. They both could not believe that she was actually getting it. N. Gin put both hands on Nefarious' back, and pushed him down the hill.

A little frightened from the unexpected push, he lost his train of thought on Mariana, and focused on not wiping out. Once he regained his balance and built up speed, he hopped, skidding on a canyon wall over a deep gorge, and made it safely to the other side. Jumping off of a sand dune, he executed a side flip over a group of at least twenty cacti. Once he reached the cliff that Mariana had flown off of, he grinded on the edge, and let go at the right moment, allowing his self to sail out over the landscape.

He leaned forward and grabbed the edge of Uka Uka, pulled up on it, and performed a triple back flip. He then grabbed the side of the mask and pulled it out from under his feet, pulling his knees back, and putting his other arm up. He was not sure what to call that trick, but he thought it was fun nonetheless. At the last moment, he put Uka Uka back under his feet, and landed with a soft THUD on the sand. Gliding along, he leaned forward and picked up momentum, allowing him to catch up with Mariana. He reached her side and cast a smile at her. She looked surprised to see him catch up so quickly, but she smiled back at him, baring her fangs.

"You should have been a professional sandboarder, not a Necromancer!" Nefarious said. She just giggled at him and turned her eyes back to the ever-expanding Wasteland before them. Upon finding the skeleton of a large dead animal just jutting out of the sand, she got an idea. She swerved to the right, leaving Nefarious' side, and glided over to a makeshift ramp. It was basically just a piece of weatherworn stone in the sand, and it was right in front of the skeleton. Jumping off of it, she flew over the ribs of the beast, and landed in between its monstrous horns. Using them as a half pipe, she performed various tricks.

Not about to lose to her, Nefarious found a deep gorge that worked as a makeshift half pipe. He slid down into the gorge and traveled along the center of it for a while. He then swerved to the left, then to the right, and then back to the left again. He continued that pattern until he built up enough speed. When he thought he was going fast enough, he bent his knees, made a u-turn, and slid up the side of the gorge on his left. He flew off the edge and made a complete arch, going up, and then coming back down. Then, when in going off the opposite side, he pulled back on Uka Uka, performed a triple back flip, and landed it. He went backwards up the opposite side, and turned in midair, allowing his self to land correctly.

Mariana watched with a small smirk, and she came down from the horns of the skeleton. Swerving on the smooth sand, she jumped, twisted in midair, grinded on a stone, and when in coming back down, she slid into a cave. Little did she know, the cave was actually a tunnel that turned into a network of tunnels deep below the Wastelands.

Nefarious, wondering where she could have gone to, stopped and dismounted Uka Uka. He looked around while waiting. All was silent but the wind blowing the sand across the ground. Suddenly, from a cave opening at the top of a rock wall, she soared out, doing a corkscrew 540. She landed backwards, executing a downhill fakie. Nefarious stared after her, completely love stricken.

"Tropy, I need to have a word with you." Uka Uka said menacingly. He floated up to meet his eye level.

"Yes, Great Uka Uka?"

"I've come to notice… you're not as evil as you were. You've become the exact opposite of the notorious Dr. Nefarious Tropy that we all know." He paused and looked back after Mariana. "Fight her to the death."

Everything the mask had just said was like a blow to the chest for Nefarious. But to _fight_ Mariana was pure madness. One, he loved her more than life itself. And two, he would be slaughtered by her.

"I… I can't…" He was unsure of what else to say.

This angered Uka Uka. "Either you fight her… or I will kill her…" He growled.

Nefarious now felt a certain fire inside of him. The Pentagram on his back began to burn again. It was out of of love, hate, anger… although he only wanted to rip the mask into tiny shreds, he knew what he had to do, and he hated it. Without a word, his heart throbbing uncontrollably, he turned his back to Uka Uka, and began walking off in Mariana's direction.

She had seen him coming and dismounted Aku Aku. She smiled at him, which tore him apart on the inside. He thought for sure he was about to cry. When he looked again, they were only a foot apart from each other. The smile had faded from her face, and was now replaced with a concerned expression.

"Nefarious…?" She lightly laid her hand against his cheek. "What's wrong?"

"I love you… forgive me…" Nefarious whispered, apparently too softly for her to hear. With one swift movement of his right arm, did an uppercut, and punched her under the chin, sending her falling back. She landed flat on her back, coughing up blood. Nefarious thought his heart was going to explode, but he had to do it.


	15. Chapter 15

Mariana did not know what to say or do. In silence, she stood up, rubbing her chin with one hand and her back with the other. She felt a crack in her chin through her skin. She gave him a death glare, but the moment their eyes met, her look softened. Somehow she knew, by the look in his eyes, he did not want to do what he just did, what he is about to do, and he feels guilty. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out, only a small cry of pain caused by the crack that had been made.

Nefarious felt all the blood rush from his face. He shot a quick look to Uka Uka, a pleading look to be precise, for the mask to allow him to stop. But the witch doctor only glared at him, which was an indicator telling him to continue. Angered by this response, Nefarious felt the Pentagram on his back beginning to burn once again. The moment the pain truly struck him, he fell to his knees on the verge of tears. That is when he realized: fighting it off would only bring greater pain and perhaps even death, so he decided to see what would happen if he let it consume him.

_Just this once._ He told himself. _It will prove helpful and allow this madness to end quicker._ Letting go of all of his senses, he focused on a small stone lying within arm's reach from him. The fire inside was ceased, and replaced by a somewhat disturbing numbness. Not only was all the feeling in his body gone, but it was as if he was an empty shell...just like the first time he meditated. He could think about anything, focus on anything, and have his mind all to himself. He had forgotten how comfortable it was to be able to do that.

He averted his gaze from the rock, and slowly raised his head, looking back into the eyes of his beloved. For the first time, he felt nothing when looking at her. He knew he could fulfill his task. He slowly rose to his feet and took long strides over to her. In a language unknown to humans, he sneered and said, "Let it begin."

As if an alarm went off in her head, Mariana jumped backwards, and Nefarious lunged forwards. His eyes glowed red, and his hands were encased in purple flames. He felt the power rushing through him...the true power of a Necromancer...and he loved it. He wanted more and more. Taking a swing at Mariana, the purple flames cut through the air like a double edged sword, and to everyone's surprise, they had actually cut into her skin. It was not a deep cut at all, but it was deep enough to spill a few drops of blood.

"Funny..." Nefarious stood up straight and said in a monotonic voice. "You are white like the undead, yet you have blood. Let us examine such aspects further." He held his arms straight down and put a little extra force into the flames. The grew longer outwards, and more pointed, like lances.

Mariana decided that she had taken enough. Whatever was going on with her loved one, she was unsure, but she was determined to end it. Her eyes turned black as pitch, and Nefarious could have sworn that he actually saw the Death Aura emitting from her outline. "Come." She took up a fighting stance. "Young Necromancers will learn not to challenge the Olde Ones."

Nefarious' sneer became even more nasty than it was. He took the open offer willingly. "It will be my pleasure." If he was not taken control of by the power within him, he would have kicked himself for saying something like that to her, but right now, he truly wanted to fight her. It would not have mattered if Uka Uka had told him to stop, he would have continued, pushing the both of them to their limits.

Looking for an opening, he spotted the Banshee right behind her. It was looking at him with a pleased expression, as if it had regretted doubting the new Necromancer in the first place, and was eager to see what would become of him. He nodded to it once, and launched himself once more at the older Necromancer. Taking her off guard, he wrapped one arm around her neck and swung around behind her, the flame-lance cutting into her delicate neck. He bit into her shoulder, drawing blood, and releasing a venom-like substance from his teeth. She elbowed him in the stomach, forcing him away. He spit out her blood and wiped his lips.

Mariana put a hand over her shoulder and cursed under her breath. She summoned her scythe and took up yet another combat stance. Nefarious imitated her, only generating his scythe from the deep violet flames. Mariana decided to make her move, and quickly. She leapt forward, taking a swing at him with the blade, ultimately missing. He jabbed her hard in the stomach with the end of his scythe's staff, making her fall to her knees, and eventually over onto her side, grasping her stomach in pain and trying to breathe. He raised his weapon once more, and brought it down.

Surprisingly, blood had not flown everywhere. The blade of his scythe was embedded firmly into the ground right in front of Mariana's nose. She looked at it with wide eyes, shaking. Looking back up to the scientist, who had pulled his arm back with the lance-like fire around it, she closed her eyes and waited for the blow. This time, it came. It was as if her stomach had a fire inside of it all of its own. She held back a scream and opened her eyes. The lance had been driven right through the middle of her torso, threatening to expose more than anybody really wanted or needed to see. He pulled it out painfully quickly, making her arc her back, and this time, a scream was heard.

She looked up at him with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. He looked down at her, first coldly, then, their eyes met again. He could have sworn that some part of him had melted. If not him in general, then his heart. Without knowing what else to do, he leaned over and gave her one last kiss...forever. He pulled up his hood, and ran away into the wasteland, eventually into the heart of the unforgiving desert.


	16. Chapter 16

Authour's Note:

Everyone, I apologize greatly for leaving this hanging for almost 2 years. I was hoping that I'd be able to continue after the writer's block left, but it didn't, then school started. I'll be a seniour in high school this year, so I'll do my best to update as much as possible. Again, I'm sorry, and I hope you all enjoy this and the future updates. This story is nowhere near finished.

Almost 2 years had gone by. It only felt like some insane nightmare. One that was bound to never end. Autumn was closing in. One could say that the October skies were visible in the horizon. Frozen. Dark. Desolate. Endless. How long would the suffering feeling continue? No one, especially not Nefarious, would be able to answer that.

He lifted himself out of yet another day-long trance. Two years spent doing absolutely nothing. Meditation and sleep were all he needed. His nightmares were his only source of comfort. The shadows of his cave consumed him. No light of day ever seeped back that far in. After that fateful day, he locked himself away for what he hoped would be forever. His fatal love had turned into his tantalizing abyss of destruction and decay. Never fight, never forgive, never love again.

Nothing could stop him from remembering those final moments when he was awake. It tore at his mind, ripping through whatever emotional defenses he tried to construct. All the while thinking, hoping, pleading for whatever gods and goddesses were out there to give him a second chance, or to at least allow him to forget. Any moments of consciousness were spent cursing himself for not using that power to destroy Uka Uka instead. Why it had to be this way, he felt he may never understand.

Any and all memories of **_her_**...good or bad...were used against him. They tortured him from the inside out. He tilted his head back and allowed the sadness to take over once again. Tears flowed freely, nothing holding them back for any reason. **_She_**_ deserved so much better...than me...a monster of monsters. _He thought to himself, biting down on his lip, drawing blood. _A knight...and a Necromancer in one. A hero...yet a destroyer._ A harsh cry ripped through his chest. Doubling over, he felt the surge of fiery heat pulse through the pentagram on his back. Ever since that day, the pain had become much more frequent. He contemplated the cause of that several times over, and he deduced that it was triggered by a strong push of only one emotion.

Then...he snapped.

Forcing himself to stand up, he pushed past the agonizing pain, and strode to the opening of the cave. The Wasteland had become his home, and he despised it now. Looking up at the sky for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, he threw his head back and let out a long, guttural cry. Enough was enough.

"I UNDERSTAND!" He shouted to the stormy clouds above. "I KILLED HER! NOW END ME YOU SELFISH, HEATHEN CREATURES PEOPLE CALL 'GODS'! END ME!" Lightning struck the ground at that moment, thunder ringing out in a deafening roar overhead. Rain flew down, pelting him and everything around him. "What?" He growled under his breath. "Do I not deserve death, or is my punishment eternal, living suffering?" He stood, watching the lightning flash.

Suddenly, something clicked. Something he wished he could have remembered sooner. Closing his eyes, he drifted back to the day she hit her head on the wall after falling down the stairs. **_Her_** voice rang through his head, and more tears fell.

**_"You cannot die twice."_**

"...oh god..." He was unsure of what he felt right now, but for the first time in a long time, he felt some spark of hope. Grabbing a slate of stone, he jumped and slid down the side of the rock wall. He had no idea where he was going at the moment, but something told him he needed to get to N. Sanity Island, and soon. If not there, then the castle.

Ramping off a slick rock at the bottom, he flipped over a skeleton of some animal, then grinded off a rock. The wind at his back, and all the rocks slicker from the rain, he made sure to not touch the sand as he boarded away from there. Looking around, he tried to make sense out of where he was, but to his misfortune, he had not paid attention to where he was when he found the cave. All he knew, is that he was heading in the exact opposite direction, which was all he needed. But something occurred to him just then...even if he were to go back and see **_her_** again, would she forgive him? Would that wretched mask just force them to fight once more?

He shrugged it off. It was too late to be thinking of said things. The vast desert eventually came to an end. Hopping off the slate, he looked across an ocean. If it were not for the storm, he may have been able to see anything in the water. Instead, he turned his back to it.

"Damn it." Cursing under his breath, he scouted the area for anything that may be of use. Much to his surprise, there was a stone gate that looked much like a teleportation system. Standing inside of its circle, a blue mist appeared. Several options appeared in the mist before him. Someone must have recently used the gate. Someone from the castle.

"To Neo Cortex's castle." He stated firmly, then disappeared in a flash of light. Sure enough, he appeared through Cortex's extremely experimental teleportation gate. Looking around, it was surprisingly quieter than he had imagined it to be. Stepping off of the platform, he glanced around once more before leaving the main laboratory. Nothing at all was operating, which was strange. Normally, several pieces of machinery would be running at once. Closing the door quietly behind him, he glanced around the cold, empty stone corridors.

This was more than just odd, to say the least. Taking the nearest flight of stairs up to the surface, he noticed a thick film of dust over everything. Something wasn't right. Something was **_far_** from "right". Or so he thought at the moment. Opening the door to the first floor of the castle, his heart stopped briefly.

**_She_** was there.

Looking up from her book, she turned to face him, the raw emotion in her eyes unreadable to anyone, even him.

"...M...Mariana..." Unable to support himself any longer, he fell to his knees at her feet, the tears spilling once more. He couldn't bring himself to look at her. "I'm...sorry..." Gritting his teeth, he clenched his fists and snapped his eyes shut. "I'm so sorry, Mariana." He choked. "Please...understand what happened."

She knelt down in front of him and set her book on the floor. Wondering what compelled him to come back now after nearly 2 years had passed, she lifted his chin and waited for him to open his eyes. When he finally did, she figured that it was her turn to say something.

"No." She looked down, unable to lock eyes with him anymore. "I'm sorry."

"Don't blame yourself for my mistake."

"That's not what I meant." Looking back up at him, she regretted everything. "My tribe caught up with me."

"Uh...what does that mean?" Everything else he was feeling faded, turning into confusion at that point.

"Means woman is mine now." A deep voice echoed from behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see a tall, shirtless man with a grass skirt, tribal tattoos, and bone decorations woven with leather bands. "Other scientists in kitchen. Leave us. I take woman back to island now."

He looked back to Mariana, feeling the self-destructive melancholy resurface. "So...this is...it?" The pain of the punishment was all too real at that point.

"Blue man miss chance. Chief took woman after recovery. Forced marriage not great, but effective."

"I guess that means you think I'm giving up?" There was a new edge to Nefarious' voice. He stood up and turned to face the chief, his head cocked slightly to the side, a malicious, insane grin spreading across his face.

"Nefarious...bad idea...stand down." Mariana laid a hand on his shoulder, the skin-to-skin contact making him shudder violently. "He may look like nothing, but he's even more powerful than I am." The look on his face made her take a step back when he glanced over his shoulder at her.

"What do you think I've been doing for 2 years?" When she didn't answer, he looked back to the chief. "Meditation. Every day. Dusk to dawn, and sometimes, a lot longer." Her frightened gasp told him everything he needed to know. He would win.


	17. Chapter 17

Authour's Note:

I'm sorry I don't really respond to any of the reviews people write, but I just want to say to everyone that I appreciate it, and I'm glad you guys love the story so much. It means a lot to me that you continue reading even after I was practically dead for 2 years. I love you guys, and you really make this worth writing. 3

He stood his ground, waiting for the larger man to strike first. His hands became engulfed with the purple flames once more, and the feeling of that absolute, and absolutely horrifying power surged through him. It streamed up his arms and legs, pulsing through every bone, muscle, and tissue, no matter how small. For once, instead of burning him, the pentagram on his back gave him a sort of cooling sensation.

Before long, the chief grew either bored or aggravated by his act of rebellion and disapproval of his decision. His aura turned black with violet and white specks of light. "Let's be quick. Chief tired...and hungry." He hunched over and began growling, pieces of bone beginning to stick through his skin, his teeth growing sharp and claws forming. He charged forward, stretching his black aura out in an attempt to grab Nefarious. Missing only by a hair, he growled and pushed forward again with several strings of his aura. Only one of them managed to break the surface skin of his shoulder. The cut was so light that the energy radiating from his body healed it almost immediately.

Whatever the chief was thinking, he obviously wasn't pleased at how quick this new, young Necromancer was compared to himself. He rocked forward and pressed his hands to the floor, doing a hand stand. The spiked bones that had stuck out of his back had shot out of their positions, now flying towards Nefarious. Unsure of what else to do, Nefarious raised his arms to block them. Much to his, and everyone else's surprise, he had stopped the flow of time around the bone fragments. Twisting his hands around them, he pointed the tips back to the chief, and then made them bullet back towards their owner. Only one hit him, but it was right between the eyes. The chief made the mistake of turning his back to him, attempting to yank the bone out.

"Wonderful." Growing a bit too impatient, Nefarious shifted positions in a flash, reappearing behind the demon-man. The flames around his hand sharpened into a blade-like formation. Jabbing it forward, he sent it straight through the other man's torso. Pulling it out, the chief howled in pain and fell forward. Nefarious took the open opportunity to charge. He had no idea what exactly he was doing, but he siphoned the life energy from the chief to himself. When he realized what he had done, it was too late.

The chief had begun to "dehydrate", or so it seemed. All traces of life essence were leaving him little by little. He was in no position to get up, move, or even escape his fate. He dried out to the point where he laid motionless on the floor, only skin and bones left. Unsure of what to do, Nefarious poked him just slightly. The truly dead Necromancer before him turned into a pile of dust at his feet.

Shocked, and a bit disgusted at himself, Nefarious took a step back. "I...did that...?" He questioned no one in particular. Looking down at the pile of dust, he saw something glimmering inside it. Leaning forward, he realized it was a black crystal. "I thought you can't die twice." He reached out for the rock. As his hand got closer, he noticed that a certain "beat" was pulsing through it and the air around it.

"Don't touch it!" Mariana jumped forward, grabbing his wrist. She was too late. Nefarious had already picked up the throbbing stone. He looked at her, now finally at eye level. "I...um..." Her train of thought was broken, seeing his red eyes shift back to green, and she smiled for the first time in ages. Letting go of his wrist, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. He reacted quickly, pulling her close and melting into the kiss. He had truly missed the cold sensation of her lips, how small and fragile she seemed to be while in his arms, the sweet smell of her skin and hair, and everything else about her. Perhaps now he would be able to find and maintain inner peace. His feelings hadn't changed. She was all he ever wanted.

They simultaneously pulled away from each other upon hearing the quick paced footsteps of the other scientists. Looking up the corridor, Nefarious had never once in his life been so happy to see them. They knocked him over, attempting to hug him all at once.

"DUDE. Where have you been?!" N. Gin cried. "We missed you." He was the first to stand up. Looking down at Nefarious, he chuckled quietly. "We all did." As the others got off, he pulled the taller man to his feet.

"Well, now, Dr. Tropy, I assume you must be wondering what is going on?" Dr. Cortex questioned. He seemed nervous. Dr. Brio didn't speak, just looked away, distraught.

"No. Not really." Nefarious answered honestly. He had just gotten home and had done what he was told to be impossible. All he really wanted to do was rest, or, strangely enough, go out with the group for a good time. Whatever it was, it had some sort of hold on everyone in the room.

Dr. Cortex looked up at the ceiling. "Two years is a long time." He spoke quietly. "Whenever you're ready, we'll fill you in." He looked back to Nefarious and cracked a smile. "But first...who wants pancakes?"

"Me! Me!" N. Gin raised his hand and jumped up and down. "Oh! Can we have bacon, too?" He looked at Dr. Cortex pleadingly, who just chuckled and nodded. "Yay! I'll drive!"

"NO." Everyone else said at the same time.

"Aw." N. Gin punched Nefarious lightly on the hip and smirked. "Think you can still do it?"

"Um...maybe?" Nefarious shrugged. It had been at least four years since it was made necessary for him to drive. The last time they drove somewhere instead of using the blimp, N. Gin had almost made him crash several times. He wasn't too pleased by that, or the fact that everyone kept telling him to pull over to pee every five miles or so.

"I'm pretty sure you can still do it." Dr. Cortex laughed. "Besides. I only had three large glasses of lemonade today!" Nefarious groaned and rubbed his temples. Dr. Cortex crossed his legs and whimpered. "That would be the lemonade now." He ran off to find a bathroom.

"NO PIT STOPS!" Nefarious yelled after him.

N. Gin looked up at Mariana and smiled. "Have you ever been driving before?"

"...no?" She actually had no idea what a car was. Her thoughts of transportation were limited to walking and horses. "Is it fun?"

"Not if you're me." Nefarious huffed quietly. "These guys try to make it hell for me on the road." To his surprise, she giggled at the thought of that. He looked away to hide his blush from the other scientists still in the room.

"Watch out." Dr. Brio smirked. "He speeds."

"What does that mean?" Mariana questioned. All these driving terms were new to her, to say the least. She only really knew what cops were. N. Gin had once described them to her as the people who ruin other people's fun. He also told her that they smelled like grease, and that they all had an unhealthy obsession with doughnuts. She was unsure of how much of that was believable, but considering she knew nothing about them, it may as well have been true.

Dr. Cortex came back soon enough. "All better!" He looked at everyone for a few moments, contemplating something. "You know...perhaps we should find something else to wear." He stopped to examine Nefarious and Mariana closely. "Dr. Tropy...a shirt would be good. And Mariana, I'm afraid people don't wear robes in public anymore. People would look at you strangely, or make accusations."

Nefarious had forgotten just how badly society decided to judge people depending on their appearance. To the scientists, his blue skin was not a problem, nor was Dr. Cortex's yellow skin, or even the rocket in N. Gin's head. They were all too used to things that weren't "normal". He looked to Mariana, worried that she would catch trouble for her alabaster white skin. If anything, she could say that she's albino. But, he decided against asking her to change her eye colour for that reason, afraid that it would offend her.

"We'll find something." Nefarious shrugged. He took Mariana's hand gently and lead her upstairs.


End file.
